World Athletics turns down 11 switches to Turkey over recruitment drive

April 16 : Eleven allegiance transfer requests to Turkey have been refused by the World Athletics Nationality Review Panel over what it called a "coordinated recruitment strategy" by the Turkish government to attract overseas athletes with lucrative contracts, the sport's governing body said on Thursday.

The requests came from five Kenyan athletes, including former women's marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei, and four Jamaicans, including Olympic discus gold medallist Roje Stona and Olympic shot put bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell.

Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili and Russian heptathlete Sophia Yakushina were the other two requests.

The panel considered that approval of these applications would impinge upon and compromise the imperatives underlying the eligibility rules and transfer of allegiance regulations.

"The panel found that the applications formed part of a coordinated recruitment strategy led by the Turkey government acting through a wholly-owned and financed government club, to attract overseas athletes through lucrative contracts" World Athletics said in a statement.

"With the aim of facilitating transfers of allegiance and enabling those athletes to represent Turkey at future international competitions, including the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games."

World Athletics' transfer of allegiance regulations include criteria aimed at ensuring a genuine connection between the 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 some cases of young athletes switching allegiance were akin to human trafficking.

Turkey's team at the 2016 European Championships featured seven