All sportsmen and women hoping to represent Kenya at the 2020 Summer Olympics will have to undergo mandatory Covid-19 tests and observe safety protocols, the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) announced Monday.
Kenya is expected to send about 100 athletes to Tokyo.
“Athletes and officials will need to sign an agreement that they understand the Covid protocols and rules and will abide by them. Non-compliance of the laid down protocols may force an athlete to be taken out of camp,” reads a NOC-K statement.
Kenya kicked off proper Olympic preps on Tuesday with a contingent of 33 from the Athletics Kenya team in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 20km walk men and javelin disciplines.
Each team will hold a two-weeks bubble camp at the Moi International Stadium, Nairobi, then create space for another group.
This is due to the strict bubble conditions set by the Tokyo Operations Team of NOC-K which has necessitated the reduction of athletes who can check into the first camp to manage the numbers according to safety protocols and availability of rooms at the Stadion Hotel.
Volleyball and rugby will be next to join residential camp.
Athletes will check in as a team, and stay only within their team throughout the camp.
Each athlete will undergo a Covid-19 test on arrival and will be allocated single room accommodation at the Stadion Hotel as they await the Covid test results.
Once the test results are out, the athletes will now be paired into a double room, to make space for another team to check in.
“Our first priority is to protect the health and safety of our athletes, as much as we need them to start training. It will be of no use to spend so much time and resources to train and then jeopardize an individual’s or team’s chances of participating at the Olympics in Japan,” Team Kenya’s General Manager said.
The athletes will be accompanied to camp by their coaches, team manager, and technical team.
The athletes who are going into training are the best prospects to make into the Tokyo team after they have satisfied Athletics Kenya technical conditions.
Each discipline will be required to produce about three athletes who will travel to Tokyo.
Currently, only the marathon team has been named by Athletics Kenya.
AK confirmed four ladies and four men who will make up the final team that will represent the country in Sapporo, Japan.
World Marathon record holder and reigning Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge will lead Kenya’s marathon team to Japan.
Other marathoners who have already secured their places to Tokyo are Amos Kipruto, Lawrence Cherono and Vincent Chepchumba.
Brigid Kosgei, Peres Jepchirchir, Faith Chepngetich and Vivian Cheruiyot makes up the women’s list.
Meanwhile, the Kenya sevens rugby men and women’s teams headed straight to camp after they jetted back from Spain on Monday.