Applications from athletes from Kenya, Nigeria and Jamaica have been rejected by the Turkish government for a ‘recruitment drive’.
Published on 17 April 2026
The World Athletics Panel has rejected 11 allegiance transfer requests from Turkey due to a “coordinated recruitment strategy” by the Turkish government to attract foreign athletes with lucrative contracts, the sport’s governing body has said.
The requests came from five Kenyan athletes, including former women’s marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei, and four Jamaicans, including Olympic discus gold medalist Rosé Stona and Olympic shot put bronze medalist Rajinder Campbell.
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Nigerian sprinter Favor Ofili and Russian heptathlete Sofia Yakushina were the other two requests.
The World Athletics Nationality Review Panel said it believed that approval of these applications would compromise the transferability of eligibility rules and allegiance rules.
“The panel found that the applications were part of a coordinated recruitment strategy led by the Turkish government acting through a wholly owned and financed government club to attract foreign athletes through attractive contracts,” World Athletics said in a statement.
“With the aim of facilitating the transfer of allegiance and enabling those athletes to represent Turkiye at future international competitions, including the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.”
World Athletics’ allegiance transfer rules contain criteria that aim to ensure a genuine relationship between an athlete and the country they represent, and to protect the integrity, credibility and development of the sport globally.
The rules were tightened in 2019, with World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe saying that some cases of young athletes switching allegiance were tantamount to human trafficking.
Türkiye’s team at the 2016 European Championships included seven athletes from Kenya, two from Jamaica, one Ethiopian, one Cuban, one Ukrainian, one South African and one Azerbaijani.
Ramil Guliyev, representing Turkey after switching allegiance from Azerbaijan, won the 200 meters gold medal at the 2017 World Championships.
Qatar has also used financial incentives to attract foreign athletes such as Egyptian-born weightlifter Fares Ibrahim Hassouna, who won the first Olympic gold medal for Qatar in Tokyo in 2021.
Winfred Yawi moved from Kenya to Bahrain at the age of 15 and won Olympic and World gold medals in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.
World Athletics said the refusal to accept allegiance transfer requests would not prevent the 11 athletes from competing in one-day meetings or road races in an individual or club capacity, or from living and training in Turkiye.
