With threats from Zika carrying Mosquitoes and drug wars on the streets of Brazilian slums, NOCK Kenya decided to book their Gold-Medal-winning team into these same areas. This was just 14 days after Air ticket Drama where 200 Joy riders had their Rio return tickets booked but not Pro Athletes who had to either pay for their own tickets or beg Kenya Airways for a ride.
Kenyan athletes have expressed anger after being stranded in a Rio shanty town where gunshots could be heard, after the Olympic village closed.
Officials delayed their return home as they looked for a “cheap flight”, complained Wesley Korir, team captain, marathon runner and independent MP.
After the team finally left for home, he tweeted he had “never felt so much happiness leaving a place”.
Team Kenya has been dogged by allegations of mismanagement at Rio.
Sports Minister Hassan Wario says the government has responded by disbanding the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) and ordering an investigation into the problems the team faced in Rio, reports the BBC’s Wanyama Chebusiri from the capital, Nairobi.
Mr Korir said athletes had experienced “hell” and he would demand action when he returned home.
He had posted images on Twitter of dilapidated buildings in the area where he said they were forced to stay.
The team won 13 medals, the biggest haul by an African country, and this “is how they treat us”, he added.
The men’s marathon team was among the athletes stuck in the shanty town, except for gold medallist Eliud Kipchoge, who bought his own ticket to leave, Mr Korir said.
Athletes had been ordered to stay indoors as gunshots were heard all night, he tweeted.
Kenya won six gold medals, six silver and a bronze at the Games, which ended on Sunday.
