Keino remains undecided

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

Kipchoge Keino is yet to make up his mind on hether to contest the top National Olympic Committee of Kenya post at the end of the month.

Keino, who had earlier told international media that he would not contest, said he will decide on Friday after an executive committee meeting.

“I will decide on Friday whether to contest or not and this is after meeting members of my executive committee. We still have a lot of work to do at Nock and this shall be considered,” he said.

Keino, who failed to present his nomination papers ahead of the botched May 5 Nock elections, got a lifeline on Tuesday when the organisation’s extraordinary general assembly agreed to open up nominations for those who had been locked out.

Earlier yesterday, Keino was reported to have said he would not stand for re-election during the general assembly in Nairobi on September 29.

The 77-year-old double Olympic gold medallist has been at the helm of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya since 1999, when he took over from Charles Mukora, who resigned following the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics bribery scandal.

“I believe it is the right time to hand over the baton to someone else. I have served four terms and that’s enough,” he told AFP.

Up until now Keino had insisted he would run for another term at the helm.

But the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended funding for sport in Kenya earlier this year after NOCK failed to hold their elections on May 5. “We need to get new office bearers to take the sport forward,” Keino said.