Former women’s marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei is among a horde of top Kenyan athletes who have acquired Turkish citizenship.
The 31-year-old 2020 Tokyo Olympics women’s marathon silver medallist said she is waiting for World Athletics to give her clearance to compete for Turkey this year as she looks ahead to representing the European nation at next year’s World Athletics Championships and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
“Yes, it’s true I have changed citizenship, but I am still waiting for the official communication from World Athletics, Athletics Kenya or Turkish Athletics before I can compete,” said Kosgei, who last represented Kenya at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics that were held in 2021.
Kosgei has won five World Marathon Majors races, namely, London in 2019 and 2020, Chicago in 2018 and 2019, and Tokyo in 2021. She broke the women’s world record in 2019 in Chicago with a blistering time of 2:14:04, making history as the first female to run a marathon in under two hours and 15 minutes.
The record has since been broken twice by Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa (2023 Berlin – 2:11:53) and Kenya’s Ruth Chepng’etich (2024 Chicago – 2:09:56).
Other Kenyan’s who also acquired Turkish citizenship are the 2024 Paris Olympic Games 5,000m silver medallist Ronald Kwemoi, 30, who is also a former World Under-20 1,500m record holder, world half marathon silver medalist Cathrine Reline Amanang’ole, 23, road distance runner Brian Kibor and Nelvin Jepkemboi.
An official at Athletics Kenya, who did not want to be named, said it’s up to World Athletics to confirm who has changed allegiance since.
“We would have made the confirmation some years back, but World Athletics took up that responsibility,” said the official.
According to World Athletics transfer of allegiance rules, a minimum of three years must pass since the athlete’s last represented their previous country, and the athlete is only allowed to transfer allegiance once.
The new member country federation must provide documentation proving the athlete’s eligibility.
World Athletics also requires athletes to demonstrate a genuine, close and established residence in their new country.
In the cases of Kosgei, who last competed for Kenya at the Tokyo Olympics and Amanang’ole, they can compete for Turkey as early as this year.
Kwemoi will have to wait until next year to represent Turkey.
Amanang’ole last represented Kenya at the World Road Running Championships on October 1, 2023, in Riga, winning bronze, while Kwemoi flew the Kenyan flag last at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
An athlete, who has not represented a country before, can change allegiance immediately, provided they have acquired legal citizenship of that country and can prove a genuine connection.
A second transfer may be permitted in exceptional circumstances, but usually only back to the country of origin
Turkiye last year allegedly lured a number of Jamaican athletes with huge financial incentives to shift their allegiance ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
The 2024 Paris Olympics men’s discus gold medallist Roje Stona and shot put bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell, Jaydon Hibbert, the triple jump prodigy who finished fourth in Paris at only 19, and 2023 World and Paris Olympics long jump silver medallist Wayne Pinnock have all become Turks.
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