On the road to Paris, Kenya has run into a flurry of challenges. This begs the question of whether Kenyan athletes’ Paris Olympics berths were impacted along the way. Last month, Nike was accused of meddling in the Kenyan Olympic marathon team selection process, which sparked controversy. This highlighted the necessity of transparency and fairness in the athlete selection procedures in the sport, guaranteeing decisions based on merit and protecting the sportsmanship of competitions.

The final six-person roster was promptly announced on May 1 by Athletics Kenya and the Kenyan National Olympic Committee after the accusation. American sprint king Noah Lyles drew attention to the Olympic trials for Kenyans to be held outside of their home country after a recent announcement, along with the delays in obtaining visas, from the archives of Eugene Athletics.

Paris Olympics causes more uphill battles for Kenyan athletes

The men’s and women’s marathon teams from Kenya made headlines with its Nike’s influenced brand name. Despite allegations of special consideration, athletes sponsored by Nike managed to secure a seat on the Kenyan Olympic marathon team. When news broke that the 10000m Kenyan Olympic Trials would take place at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, the public began to put pressure on Athletics Kenya and Nike. Noah Lyles took a dig at World Athletics on X saying, “Why in the world are we hosting another countries Olympic qualifier. We should know how much of an issue this is after worlds 22…”

There was one major shocker after Athletics Kenya announced its Olympic marathon squad: Kosgei’s selection. Brigid Kosgei has won one in the last two years, withdrew from one in London 2022 and DNF in London 2023. However, Kosgei’s case is based on the fact that her corpus of work surpasses those of other Kenyans, Rosemary Wanjiru and Sharon Lokedi. Her repertoire includes –

2022 London: Withdrew due to hamstring injury.
2023 London: DNF within the first mile due to hamstring injury.
2023 New York: 4th in 2:27:45. 3rd Kenyan behind Hellen Obiri (2:27:23) and Sharon Lokedi (2:27:33).
2023 Abu Dhabi: 1st in 2:19:15. Won race by nearly five minutes.
2024 London: 5th in 2:19:02. 3rd Kenyan behind Peres Jepchirchir (2:16:16) and Joyciline Jepkosgei (2:16:24).

It’s difficult to deny that Nike athletes have benefited from all of Athletics Kenya’s controversial marathon selections. The athletics body selected Nike’s Moses Mosop in 2012 over the Adidas brands trio—Geoffrey Mutai, Patrick Makau, and Emmanuel Mutai. Then in the 2016 Rio Olympics, Visiline Jepkesho of Nike was selected by AK instead of Mary Keitany again from Adidas. The most bewildering choice of all emerged when Athletics Kenya selected Wesley Korir to the men’s team in 2016, even though he had not placed on the podium in a marathon for over four years! Once again, Nike was the sponsor. There’s more to the 2016 controversy than meets the eye!

Nike’s influence and bribery scandal’s nefarious system unveiled

In 2016, Kenyan officials claimed that Nike started to worry when a Chinese brand unexpectedly volunteered to sponsor the country’s renowned runners. A Nike executive, concerned about losing the agreement, wrote to a Kenyan official, stating, “Can we talk about the situation?” and “You and I go back a long way.” Documents from a former employee of the Kenyan Athletics Association reveal what happened next, which sparked a significant scandal in the country’s fight against corruption.

According to the New York Times article, “Money Given to Kenya, Since Stolen, Puts Nike in Spotlight”; Nike bribed in lieu of hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus a $500,000 “commitment bonus”—as described by a former employee. Instead of helping poor Kenyan athletes, bureaucrats siphoned and pocketed the funds. Nike contended the payments were made to support athletes and denied any wrongdoing. But despite several allegations in Kenya that Nike bought off the track and field organization to guarantee that Kenyan athletes wore Nike shoes, the United States did not launch an inquiry. Eight years later, with African athletes missing out on competitions owing to visa rejection and other issues linking US agencies, is Noah Lyles’s way of communication a fitting step towards calling out major organizations ahead of the Paris Olympics?