Athletes reject Kamatusa Olympic boycott

THURSDAY, 05 APRIL 2012 23:53 BY MATHEWS NDANYI

Kenyan athletes have rejected a call by Eldoret North William Ruto that they boycott the London Olympics to protest the ICC cases against four Kenyans. The athletes — majority of them known for their exploits in international and local track events — told Ruto and Kamatusa leaders not to drag their politics into the sporting arena. Two-time Olympic gold medallist Kipchoge Keino who is the chairman of the National Olympics Committee and Athletics Kenya secretary David Okeyo said it is wrong and unworkable for the leaders to introduce their politics in sports.

Representatives of the athletes also condemned the boycott call. Majority of the athletes are in training in Eldoret in preparation for this weekend's third meet of a six-leg tournament which will lead to the Olympic qualifiers. The two-day meet will be held in Kitale. The proposal to have the athletes boycott the Olympics was one of the 16 resolutions arrived at after the Kamatusa meeting held in Eldoret on Monday and hosted by Ruto.

It was attended by over 30 MPs and other leaders mainly from the Kalenjin community. The resolutions were read by the chairman of the Kalenjin Elders Council Major (rtd) John Seii. "This year 2012 is another Olympics year. Unless an environment of inclusiveness and fairness is provided, the Kalenjin community will consider asking the condemned athletes to boycott the Olympics," said the resolution. This resolution stemmed from another one which stated that the entire Kalenjin community — including the athletes — had been condemned because of the crimes against humanity charges which Ruto and radio journalist Joshua arap Sang are facing at the ICC.

The meeting resolved that the entire Kalenjin community was on trial at The Hague. Yesterday, Okeyo lashed out at the leaders and the resolution which he said should be ignored. "Participating in the Olympics even without winning a medal is the dream of every athlete. It is wrong for anyone to ask them to boycott such an international event because that would affect their careers," said Okeyo.

Two middle and long distance Olympic medal hopefuls Mark Kiptoo (10,000m) and Eliud Kipchoge (5,000m) said they will not allow themselves to be dragged into politics as they concentrate on their training. "We are athletes and that is okay for us. Please keep us out of politics," said Kipchoge. Veteran long-distance runner, two-time world championship gold medallist and two-time winner of the Boston Marathon Moses Tanui asked the politicians to keep out of sport. Tanui, who retired from the track in 2004 following a knee injury, is the first athlete to run the half marathon under 60 minutes. His world record was broken five years later by Paul Tergat.

Daniel Komen, whose 1998 indoor and 1996 outdoor records for 3,000m stills stand, and who remains the only man to run back-to-back under-four-minute miles, urged the politicians to sort out their grievances without distracting the athletes. "Let those training for the games do so peacefully. Once you start discussing politics in games then you ruin the games," said Komen who is remembered for his rivalry with Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie.

At other training camps in Keiyo and Iten, athletes and their managers said they would not allow anyone to discus politics at the camps and referred journalists to the AK. The athletes' rejection of the Olympics boycott call came as a section of elders and politicians from the Kalenjin community dismissed Ruto's efforts to revive Kamatusa as "irrelevant". They said they would not allow Ruto to turn the region into a URP political zone since "those in attendance were self seekers out to mislead the Kalenjin community".

In a statement, the elders — who included Jackson Kibor, Seid Keittany, David Chepsiror and former councillor Kipkorir Menjo — expressed shock that some of their colleagues attended Ruto's meeting which they said did not address the serious issues affecting the people of Rift Valley. They faulted the meeting for endorsing Ruto as the region's presidential candidate and his URP as the party for the region. "Such a resolution is irrelevant and undermines the democratic principles enshrined in our constitution," said Kibor.

They elders dismissed the meeting as a URP rally and said groupings such as Kamatusa and Gema were retrogressive as they promoted tribalism. "Such tribal groupings undermine the cohesion and integration of our people," said Menjo. They said it was not the Kalenjin community that was on trial at the Hague but individuals who should address their grievances through legal channels instead of whipping up the emotions of their communities. The elders accused a section of leaders in the Rift Valley of embracing impunity and behaving in a primitive manner.