Sportsmen heading to Brazil for the forthcoming 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro should not worry about the Zika Virus as the outbreak of the disease has declined by 80 percent during the last two months, Brazilian Ambassador to Kenya, Marcela Nicodemos, said last week.
The envoy, speaking at the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation Rio Olympic Games official launch in Nairobi, said the athletes from all corners of the globe, should focus on winning medals and mingling with their counterparts, instead of worrying about a non-existent health scare.
Nicodemos’ assurance comes after a number of individual sportsmen and countries hinted at pulling out of the games, citing health scare.
Kenya’s sports minister, Dr Hassan Wario, the chief guest at the function, focused on the doping, an issue the country has been grappling with in the run up to Rio 2016.
He defended the countries against claims that some top athletes have engaged in doping, pointing out that the Team Kenya management has facilitated relevant doping agencies to execute not less than three tests on each athlete headed to Brazil.
He wondered why the recent doping measures by the World Anti-Doping Agencies (WADA) have seriously focused on Kenya, yet 350 out of 400 tests have been conducted on Kenyan athletes headed to Brazil, while the remaining 50 will be conducted in good time.
Following the tussle with WADA, Kenya has put in place anti-doping law compliant with the WADA code. ”This doping concern has been addressed and fulfilled,” said the minister, adding that Kenya and France are the only countries that have put in place anti-doping legislation so far.
“On December 13, 2015, Kenya finally established the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK). We will not relent our efforts to play clean in sports, especially in the fight against use of banned substance in sports,” he said.
Kenya, the reigning IAAF World Championships champions, is sending 185 athletes to Rio – featuring in athletics, archery, weightlifting, boxing, rugby and swimming.
And to motivate the athletes gold medal winners will pocket US$10,000, while silver and bronze medal winners will be awarded US$7,500 and US$5,000 respectively, the minister said.
