Bach meets Kenyan NOC at IOC headquarters

IOC President Thomas Bach, centre, welcomes the Kenyan NOC to the organisation's headquarters in Lausanne ©NOC-K

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has held a meeting with the leadership of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) after inviting them to the organisation’s headquarters in Lausanne.

NOC-K President and IOC member Paul Tergat led the Kenyan delegation to the Swiss city where they were welcomed by Bach.

According to the NOC-K, Bach expressed his "satisfaction with the tremendous transformation" of the organisation over the past seven years.

The NOC-K said its Executive Committee was invited to the headquarters to familiarise themselves with the work of the IOC as well as speak with various heads of departments and the organisation’s leadership.

Tergat, a former marathon world record holder and double Olympic silver medallist, was first elected as the head of the NOC-K in 2017.

The NOC-K executives were invited to the International Olympic body headquarters to familiarize themselves with the operations and programmes at the top level of the world sporting organization as well as meet and interact with the various heads of departments and IOC leadership
— TeamKenya (@OlympicsKe) July 22, 2023

Before Tergat took over, the NOC-K had been in crisis and threatened with IOC suspension after it was disbanded by the then Kenyan Sports Minister Hassan Wario citing a catalogue of logistical and mismanagement issues during Rio 2016.

Tergat has been a member of the IOC since 2013 and travelled to Lausanne in May this year where he held discussions with Bach about Kenya’s preparations for Paris 2024.

Doping continues to be an issue in Kenya with a total of 64 of the country’s athletes on the Athletics Integrity Unit banned list.

Athletics Kenya was spared of a lengthy ban by World Athletics at the beginning of this year after the country’s Government committed $25 million (£20.3 million/€23 million) to the fight against doping in athletics over the next five years.