Kenya disbands Olympic committee over poor travel arrangement, lack of kits for athletes

• Polish thrower donates medal to help three-year-old with cancer

Details have emerged of what Kenya’s Sports Minister, Hassan Wario, said when he disbanded the country’s Olympic committee.

Speaking to journalists in the capital, Nairobi, he first praised the performance of the athletes and the way the country overcame suspicions about doping.

He then turned his fire on the administrators:
“You are all aware of the troubles… that have dampened the spirits and the pride of the people of Kenya.”

He then described a string of problems over accommodation and travel, to the provision of sports kits “that never reached the athletes as required”.

These allegations… pose an immediate threat that will adversely affect the stability and reputation of the Olympic Games in this country.”

Mr Wario then announced that he has set up an investigation into what went wrong.

The news comes as one of the athletes, Wesley Korir, has been complaining about Kenyan Olympians being put up in accommodation in a shanty town following the closure of the Olympic village.

Meanwhile, a Polish discus thrower, Piotr Malachowski has donated his Olympic silver medal to raise funds for a three-year-old boy with a rare form of cancer.

Malachowski, 33, won his second Olympic silver in Rio, finishing 82cm adrift of Germany’s Christoph Harting.

His donation enabled compatriot Olek Szymanski, who has retinoblastoma – an eye cancer affecting young children, to go to New York for treatment.

“My silver medal is worth a lot more than a week ago,” said Malachowski.

“It is worth the health of little Olek.”

Malachowski, who also won silver in Beijing eight years ago, said fate had given him the chance to “increase the value of my silver”.

He added: “We were able to show that together we can do wonders. It is our great shared success.

“Winning an Olympic medal is one of an athlete’s life dreams. Of course, the most precious is gold.

“I did everything in my power to get it. Unfortunately this time I did not succeed.”

Culled from BBCSports