An appeal lodged by Kenya against the gold medal won by Botswana’s Nijel Amos at the Africa Senior Athletics Championships in Asaba, Nigeria, has been thrown out.
The appeal lodged by Kenya’s Emmanuel Korir coach Paul Ereng, was overruled by the Championship’s Jury by ruling that “all the athletes were affected by the false start.”
Ereng the 1988 Seoul Olympics gold medallist had lodged the appeal after the race starter blast off the gun before the athletes were ready, prompting some of them to stand still only to take off after the rest of the field was away.
“We first made an oral appeal and then made the formal written appeal that was overruled by the presiding officials of the jury,” the Team Kenya assistant team manager Peter Angwenyi said.
Angwenyi said the jury argued that although it was a false start, all the athletes were affected.
Team Kenya head coach Stephen Mwaniki said “the verdict was quite unfair because if it indeed was a false start, the race should have been recalled.
The result means that Amos who was back after a long injury lay off retains the title by exerting revenge on Koriri who has beaten him twice this season.
It was first at the Prefontaine Classic IAAF Diamond League in Eugene, Oregon in the United States and on Thursday during the Africa Championships 800m heats, on both occasions Amos finished second behind Korir.
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