Kenya slams prize money discrimination
Source: Agencies |
April 23, 2011, Saturday
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A KENYAN athletic official says plans by Utrecht marathon organizers to pay a Dutch winner 100 times what a foreigner would receive discriminate against runners from the African nation who raise the standard and profile of the race.
Athletics Kenya secretary general David Okeyo said athletes from his country are being targeted, with Kenyans having won the past four editions of the race.
"They should leave people to compete without any discrimination," Okeyo said on Thursday.
"The terminology used, I think as far as we are concerned, is discriminating against Kenyans, which is not good."
Athletics Kenya has informed its runners of the new policy and says none of them have so far entered for Monday's race. "We have advised them to make a decision whether to participate or not bearing in mind that there is discrimination," said Peter Angwenyi, Athletics Kenya's public relations officer.
If a Dutchman wins, he'll receive the 100 euros (US$142) that goes to the first runner across the line but also a bonus of up to 10,000 euros (US$14,200). Organizer Louran van Keulen said he is only trying to encourage local runners. But it has also been viewed as a metaphor for Dutch society, where rising nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment have eroded the country's long-held image as a bastion of tolerance.
News of the policy was received in Kenya with outrage, with the country's leading newspaper saying it "simply doesn't wash." "Should we then discriminate against foreign golfers, including the Dutch, at the Kenya Open championships simply because in its 43-year history no Kenyan golfer has ever won it?" asked the Daily Nation in an editorial.
Athletics Kenya secretary general David Okeyo said athletes from his country are being targeted, with Kenyans having won the past four editions of the race.
"They should leave people to compete without any discrimination," Okeyo said on Thursday.
"The terminology used, I think as far as we are concerned, is discriminating against Kenyans, which is not good."
Athletics Kenya has informed its runners of the new policy and says none of them have so far entered for Monday's race. "We have advised them to make a decision whether to participate or not bearing in mind that there is discrimination," said Peter Angwenyi, Athletics Kenya's public relations officer.
If a Dutchman wins, he'll receive the 100 euros (US$142) that goes to the first runner across the line but also a bonus of up to 10,000 euros (US$14,200). Organizer Louran van Keulen said he is only trying to encourage local runners. But it has also been viewed as a metaphor for Dutch society, where rising nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment have eroded the country's long-held image as a bastion of tolerance.
News of the policy was received in Kenya with outrage, with the country's leading newspaper saying it "simply doesn't wash." "Should we then discriminate against foreign golfers, including the Dutch, at the Kenya Open championships simply because in its 43-year history no Kenyan golfer has ever won it?" asked the Daily Nation in an editorial.
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