Mary Moraa Leads Kenyan Athletes in All Africa Games Protests as Trials Fail to Take Off

• The Kenyan national trials for the African games failed to commence on Tuesday morning
• The athletes were unhappy with the government's decision to take one athlete per category
• Women's 800m world champion Mary Moraa urged the government to take athletics seriously

Kenyan athletes refused to participate in the national trials ahead of the All Africa Games in Ghana. The national trials were scheduled for March 5 to select a team that would represent the country at the 13th edition of the multi-sport event.

The athletes turned up at the Nyayo National Stadium only to be informed by the National Sports Council of Kenya that only one qualification spot would be available per category for the various disciplines.

Mary Moraa leads protests

The decision angered the athletes, who resorted to protests. 800m world champion Mary Moraa led the athletes in criticising the decision, calling out the government.

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"Athletics is our security. We win medals for this country. How can the government take one athlete only? What happens to the rest who have invested for this day?" as quoted by Michelle Katami.

Athletics Kenya Vice President Paul Mutwii addressed the issue last week, citing financial constraints as the reason they had been forced to whittle down the squad that would represent the country in West Africa.

Commonwealth 800m champion, Wycliffe Kinyamal, asked the government to be fair with the selection criteria and consider upcoming athletes as well.

"It has to be number one, two and three being picked for the games. We should be considerate of the upcoming athletes," as quoted by Capital Sports.

The Sports Council asked the athletes to draft a petition and present it to their federation who in turn will present it to them. They, however, remained non-committal on whether that stance would change once presented to the government.

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Kenya's history at African Games

The reduced number of athletes could see Kenya's medal haul at the Accara games reduced significantly, given that the country is an athletics powerhouse not only in the region, but worldwide.

The country sits sixth on Africa's all-time list, having accumulated 134 gold medals, 144 silver medals, and 164 bronze medals in the past 12 editions.

Kenyan athletes won 10 gold medals at the last edition of the games held in 2019 in Rabat. The Accra names will kick off on Friday and run through to March 23.

Kenya at WIC Glasgow 2024

Sports Brief had earlier reported that Kenya finished with only one medal at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

Beatrice Chepkoech ran a national record to win bronze in the 3000m final behind Elle St. Pierre and Gudaf Tsegay.

Africa's fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, only managed a fourth-place finish in the 60m final.