Former national head coach Mike Kosgei has predicted a bleak future for Kenyan athletics after the defection of another top-class distance runner.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/4529395.stm Nicholas Kemboi, 22, has followed in the footsteps of several compatriots by becoming a Qatar citizen. He will be eligible to compete for the Gulf state at this summer's world championships in Helsinki. "Kenyan athletics is threatened. I can't imagine what the situation will be in the next 10 years," said Kosgei. Athletics Kenya secretary general David Okeyo said that he had heard that a dozen other Kenyans were on their way to representing either Qatar or Bahrain. Several other top athletes have already made the switch to Qatar, including world steeplechase champion and world record holder Saif Saaeed Shaheen. Bernard Lagat, who won silver in the 1500m at the Athens Olympics, recently became a US citizen. Kemboi came to prominance in 2003 when he lost narrowly over 10,000m to Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie in Brussels. ENDS
