Kenya's only representative at the Winter Olympics to skip Games

Kenya will have no athletes competing at the upcoming Winter Olympics scheduled for 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China. 

Two of the three potential participants in the Games have failed to qualify while the only athletes who qualified, Alpine Skiier Sabrina Wanjiku Simader, has opted out. 

There were two Olympics and one Paralympics hopefuls on the path to Beijing 2022, Simader (Alpine skiing), Dennis Moronge (Cross-country skiing) and Daniel Katheku Safari (Para skiing). 

According to National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) Katheku, has been training through scholarships in South Korea and USA, but due to travel restriction, was unable to honour qualification events in the last two years. 

Moronge, a resident in Czech Republic, was on the path line to the Games but, similarly, restrictions in Europe due to Covid-19 saw him miss qualification events that would have helped him gain enough points for Beijing. 

Simader, who was the only athletes to have qualification standard cited lack of proper preparations and opted to focus on preparing for the World Championships.

"NOC-K had seen great potential in her, disbursing Ksh 8 million in the last 3 years towards her training and preparation. She, however, required more financial resources to sufficiently train for the specific event in which she qualified for in Beijing and therefore felt she wasn’t well prepared, opting instead to focus on World Championships and tours this year with a clear focus of preparing for the next Olympics," read the Committee's statement on the Games. 

"NOC-K and the Ministry continue building pathways towards ensuring athletes who wish to qualify and participate in future winter Olympics receive utmost support and tap the talents of many young Kenyans in the diaspora, as well as in the country

The journey begins towards Winter Olympics in 2026 in the Italian Cities of Milan and Cortina d’Amprezzo," the statement concluded.