Kenyan Swimming Federation Banned Indefinitely By FINA

The Kenyan Swimming Federation has been banned indefinitely by FINA, according to a letter obtained by SwimSwam.

The country has been under temporary suspension for the past two years after failing to meet two deadlines for elections in 2020.

Now, according to a letter addressed to John Ohaga, the Chairman of the Sports Dispute Tribunal (SDT) and signed by FINA’s head of legal, Loic Loutan, the federation is banned from all FINA-related events until further notice.

The FINA Executive Board met on May 18 and ultimately concluded that it won’t propose the lifting of the Kenyan Federation’s suspension to the FINA Bureau “based on all current circumstances of this matter.”

Kenya’s sanctions are listed as follows:

• Not permitted to participate in FINA Congresses and other FINA non-sporting events
• Prevented to take part in and benefit from any FINA programs and related funding
• Unable to nominate candidates for elections/appointments to any FINA offices or positions (such as the FINA Bureau, FINA committees or other FINA bodies)

For the athletes, Kenyans will be eligible to compete in FINA events and FINA-sanactioned events, but as neutrals.

“Their international representation would be as International FINA Athletes (IFA),” the letter says.

Two Kenyan swimmers, Swaleh Talib and Lucia Ruchti, are currently registered to compete at the upcoming FINA World Championships. They will be permitted to swim as IFA, FINA says, but they’ll be the sole Kenyan entrants.

According to Kenyan outlet The Star, Kenyan Swimming Federation elections were due last year following the enactment of a new constitution, but some members of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) went to court to stop them, citing universal suffrage.

Ohaga was called on by one of the federation’s stakeholders, Teddy Wamuyu, to ensure elections were held last September.

There is also a controversy over the country’s qualification system for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, a meet in which Kenya’s top swimmers will be focusing on instead of Worlds.

The Star says that swimmers including Rebecca Kamau and Maria Brunlehner, who both train abroad, have been “sidelined” because they didn’t swim their qualifying times in Kenya.

“Why would the swimmers spend thousands of dollars in airfare and suffer jet lag when the easiest option would have been to swim in a FINA-sanctioned event wherever they are,” the stakeholders said, according to The Star.

After eight swimmers were provisionally nominated, a group of four have seen selected to compete at the Commonwealth Games: Emily Muteti, Imara Bella Thorpe, Ridhwan Mohammed, and Monyo Monyo Maian.

Muteti was one of two Kenyan swimmers selected to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The other was Danilo Rosafio, who trains out of Loughborough University and also appears to have been denied entry into the Commonwealth Games because he’s abroad.