•Athletics Kenya develops a new system to nab athletes who falsify their ages to participate in youth competitions
•The new system will also monitor athletes' academic performances and assist the brighter ones gain scholarships.
•Since last year, AK has embarked on a vigorous campaign to instil good values among young athletes through countrywide workshops.
Athletes who falsify their ages to participate in youth competitions have been put on notice after Athletics Kenya developed a foolproof system to verify their true ages.
Youth Development committee chair, Barnaba Korir, said the system consists of a biodata containing athletes' details, which are updated regularly.
"We have adopted a system that inputs data on the ages of various athletes that have competed in various competitions at the national and county levels. The results and biodata will be kept for verification of the date of birth of various individual athletes," Korir said.
He warned potential culprits that AK will deal with them ruthlessly should they be found.
"We want to bring up morally upright athletes. We do not want a situation where a 25-year-old is competing in an under-20 competition against others who are younger than him or her," he said.
Korir also cautioned coaches, agents and managers of such unscrupulous athletes that the federation will not spare them in their latest effort to instil fairness and equality in various athletics competitions.
"Age cheating is treated like doping. Any one found to have cheated on his or her age will face the same consequences. Athletes' support personnel assisting them to cheat are also liable to penalties," he said.
Furthermore, Korir added, the new system will monitor athletes' academic performances with a view to providing the brighter ones with scholarship opportunities.
"Apart from guarding against cheating, this system will also monitor athletes' academic performance. Those who do well in school will receive scholarships to further their education and the support necessary to grow their talents in athletics," he said.
Since last year, AK has embarked on a vigorous campaign to instil good values among young athletes through countrywide workshops.
In December, the federation undertook anti-doping and career development seminars with various young athletes in Nairobi, Eldoret, Kitale and Kericho.
AK president Jackson Tuwei said the seminars were necessary to inculcate the values of fairness and equality in young athletes at the onset of their careers —rather than wait until they become elite at which point many are unlikely to heed advice.
"You are the future of the athletics in this country. Everyone in Kenya and the world is looking up to you," Tuwei said while opening the seminar series in Kitale.