Skip to main content

South Korea Plans to Give Citizenship to Kenyan Athlete to Ensure Marathon Gold at Rio Olympics

http://www.focus-asia.com/socioeconomy/photonews/412320/

translated by Brett Larner

According to South Korea's Dong-A Ilbo news organization, the South Korean Athletics Federation intends to go forward with a plan to offer citizenship to Kenyan Wilson Loyanae Erupe, winner of the men's race at last weekend's Seoul International Marathon, so that he can win the gold medal wearing South Korean colors at next year's Rio de Janeiro Olympics.  The news appeared in the March 18 edition of the Gyeongju Daily.

At the Seoul International Marathon on March 15 Erupe won in 2:06:11, a race he also won three years ago.  His representative, who serves as director of the South Korean Athletics Federation, commented, "Erupe wants to get South Korean citizenship so that he can run the Rio Olympics for South Korea next year."  The transfer would require the approval of Athletics Kenya, but since Erupe is not a member of the Kenyan national team, the South Korean side said, "there is no real obstacle to this happening."

Translator's note: The article does not mention that between his two Seoul wins Erupe tested positive for EPO and served a two-year suspension that ran out last month.
Labels:

Comments

Metts said…
Very sad as they can't seem to produce any more Lee Bong Ju's in the system. Living here I don't see much of a real system to develop world class competitive elite level distance runners or track and field athletes.
March 19, 2015 at 5:18 PM
Metts said…
SK federations for years have been trying to get citizenship for foreigners for thier basketball and soccer(football) teams but without much success. SK athletes in some sports have moved on to other countries, mainly in archery, some even to Japan. The most notable is Victor Ahn, a short track skater who was very successful in SK but because of alleged politics, offered his services to Russia.
March 19, 2015 at 5:36 PM
Unknown said…
It was a 'buy or build' proposition.

The Koreans went for the 'buy' proposition; they don't have a lot of time (1 year) to develop a Korean.
March 20, 2015 at 9:04 AM
Unknown said…
Buy or Build decision.

Korea decided to 'buy', not build. No time to build anyway.

And if a 'Korean' wins then it will motivate other 'Koreans', right?
March 20, 2015 at 9:06 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...
3 comments
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more