Photo credit: Wong May/AP Images

Kenya finished the Rio Olympics with 13 track and field medals, second only to the United States who finished with 32. That’s a gulf, not a gap, but after reading details about how thoroughly the team was sold up the river by their own Olympic committee, I’m impressed that Kenya managed that many.

The Associated Press got their hands on a government-mandated internal report on the activities and finances of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK), and it turns out that they more or less marooned Olympic teams so that they could siphon off money and Nike apparel for their own personal gain. Athletics Kenya officials ran into trouble earlier this year after they were caught ferreting away payments from Nike, and it seems that their colleagues at the NOCK joined in as well.

Since the committee began its investigation, Kenya’s Olympic team leader has been charged with stealing $256,000 and three other senior Olympic committee officials - two vice presidents and the secretary general - face charges of stealing boxes of Nike apparel that were meant for athletes. One VP was arrested hiding under his bed in an apartment filled with brand new Nike equipment.

Nike gives the NOCK over $1.2 million a year. Incredibly, the NOCK hasn’t kept any records on how they spent all that money. Officials did, however, say that they allocated 900,000 extra dollars to fly 330 people to Rio, even though flights had already been settled by that time.



Julius Yego won silver for Kenya in the javelin. The NOCK did nothing to help him before the Games and even actively sabotaged his chances by bungling his transportation to Brazil.



Both the men’s and women’s rugby teams were screwed over in different ways.

The men’s rugby sevens team went on a three-week high-altitude training camp, but returned to the capital Nairobi for a week and then traveled to Rio, which is at sea level, two weeks before their competition, nullifying any benefit from the high-altitude training.


Following the women’s rugby team’s brawl, team officials lied and said the players were fighting “over a man.” Players later admitted it was over prize money promised them by the Kenyan government.


The AP has more details from what seemed like a huge mess for the athletes, and a huge party for officials.

[Associated Press]