"Rich countries buy athletes like they buy things." This is between the hearts of nora Geruto, the queen of long-distance running, when it comes to naturalization.
At the Athletics World Championships in Eugene, USA, Jerutto won the 3000m steeplechase in 8:53.02, the first world championship gold medal in Kazakhstan's history.
Of course, a look at the color of Jerutto's skin shows that she is a naturalized athlete from Kazakhstan. Jerutto, who represented Kenya at an international competition, wanted to say more about naturalization, but she hesitated.
In the face of the media's long guns and short guns, Jeruto waved his hand: "Everything is too complicated, too chaotic..." She interrupted the interview, turned her head and left.
On July 24, Beijing time, Jerutto's agent talked about the situation behind the naturalization of a large number of Kenyan athletes. At this World Championships, Kenya, once the long-distance running kingdom, only had 1 gold medal.
Could it be that kenya's talent is out of gear? The answer is no, and unlike the crazy gold and silver in the world in the past, kenya is not represented by the best athletes of the same age group today, because they have been naturalized early and represent other countries.
Geiruto's agent reveals the embarrassing lives of Kenyan athletes today. In Kenya, athletes don't have any income: "In Kenya, athletes don't get any money from the state, they don't have a salary, coaches don't have a salary, they don't have any expenses. The athletes' only income is commercial sponsorship and the prize money they get when they go abroad to 'go to the cave'. ”
The original intention of many athletes to receive professional training, in addition to love, but also hope to change their lives, change the life of their families, without any income, the future is dark, how to change the status quo?
The answer, of course, is naturalization.
More and more countries are targeting Kenya, a gold mine for middle- and long-distance running, and groups of outstanding athletes have joined the nationality of other countries, just like Jerutto.
Jeruto, who won the Junior World Championship at the age of 16, became a Citizen of Kazakhstan in December 2018, along with three other Kenyan athletes.
According to the rules of the World Athletics Federation, as long as you join the nationality of other countries, you can immediately participate in the World Series.
But just after Jerutto and her three partners were granted Citizenship of Kazakhstan, the IAAF changed the rules, requiring all naturalized athletes to have a three-year "quiet period" before they could represent the new country.
As a favorite to win the Tokyo Olympics, Jerutto submitted an application to the IAAF, which was not surprisingly rejected. In this way, Jerutto missed the Tokyo Olympics, in fact, if it were not for the postponement of the World Championships in Athletics for a year, Jerutto would not have been able to catch up with the Eugene World Championships.
Since you represent Kazakhstan, the income should be quite good, right? The reporter asked Geruto's monthly income very conservatively: "Can it reach $1700?" ”
Jerutto's answer was depressing: "(There is a rule) I will not say the specific amount, but I get a lot less than you say, not even half of this amount." 」 This is also the normal situation for naturalized Kenyan athletes, but if we achieve results in important events such as the Diamond League and the World Championships and the Olympic Games, we can get prize money, which is the biggest difference! ”