Kenyan Olympic athletes to join pre-Games competitions

(BEIJNG, July 10)-- Kenyan athletics officials said they are permitting nine athletes on the national Olympic team to join a series of competitions being held in Europe between July 11th and the 22nd.

The officials were quoted on the website of the state-run Xinhua News Agency as saying they were lifting restrictions ordinarily imposed on Olympics competitors in the run-up to the Games.

The 2008 Summer Olympics, slated to be staged for the first time ever in China, will open on August 8th and run through the 24th.

Kenyan athletes on the Olympic team will join the "Golden Gala Roma" on July 11, the Athens Grand Prix on July 13 and the DN Galan in Stockholm on July 22, the Xinhua report stated. The Xinhua news agency, in turn, cited a Nairobi radio station as the source of the information on the pre-Olympics competitions.

Set to join the "Golden Gala Roma" this Friday are Pamela Jelimo, Janeth Jepkosgei and Alfred Kirwa.

Pamela Jelimo was clocked at 1:54.99 to post a new African record on June 1st in the 800-meter race in the Internationales Stadionfest (ISTAF) Golden League held in Berlin. The 19-year-old also won the 800-meter event at the Hengelo Grand Prix event in the Netherlands and set the new Junior World Record of 1:55.76 on May 25th.

Janeth Jepkosgei, meanwhile, finished first in the women's 800-meter race while Alfred Kirwa took the men's 800-meter title in the 11th World Championships in Osaka in August of 2007.

Ezekiel Kemboi, winner of the 3000-meter steeplechase event at the 2004 Athens Olympics, is also scheduled to take part in European competitions this month.

Other Kenyan athletes slated to race in Europe in the upcoming days and weeks include Boaz Lalang, a 800-meter runner, Nancy Jebet Lagat, a 1500-meter runner, Sylvia Kibet, a 5000-meter runner, and Vincent Mumo, a 400-meter runner.

Boaz Lalang will compete in the Athens Grand Prix to be held on Sunday, and then at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm on July 22. Xinhua quoted the 19-year-old athlete as saying: "The hard part was to qualify for the Olympics. Now that I have made the team, I will work hard and do well in Beijing."

"We have allowed them to go compete abroad so as to work on their speed because after the trials, they won't get another chance to compete here," Kenyan coach Julius Kirwa told the Nairobi radio station.