Earlier last week, Athletics Kenya president Jackson Tuwei revealed a worrying trend of age fraud among the nation's athletes.
The revelations come at a time when the country is still combatting the doping epidemic that also threatens to impair our stature on the international stage.
Age hoax entails the heinous falsification of documents, including birth credentials. It is a highly reprehensible act that undermines the integrity of systems and institutions.
By intentionally misrepresenting one's age, individuals not only deceive others but also undermine the trust and reliability of these important documents.
Sports age perfidy has germinated into a profound problem that compromises both the athletes' and the game's legitimacy.
It harms the reputations of athletes and organisations and undercuts the values of sportsmanship and fair play.
Therefore, it is imperative to eradicate this evil that has seemingly infiltrated every aspect of sports.
Age cheating can have various detrimental effects on sports. First, it undermines the spirit of fair play, as it allows individuals to gain an unfair advantage over their competitors by falsifying their ages.
This not only undermines the integrity of the competition but also discourages honest athletes from participating. Age cheating also denies young athletes an opportunity to showcase their potential early enough.
Sports federations have a significant role to play in curbing the vice before it scatters its tentacles far and wide.
They must enforce comprehensive age verification techniques to ensure athletes accurately represent their actual ages.
These methods may include physical tests, birth document verification, and other procedures to avoid age fraud.
Sports federations and organisations must also impose severe sanctions on individuals who participate in age cheating.
The severity of these punishments ought to serve as a disincentive for athletes to engage in age fabrication.
This will make it very evident that age cheating is not acceptable and that sporting organisations are dedicated to upholding the fairness of the competition.
Athletes can be inspired to compete honourably and truthfully by bringing attention to the possible repercussions of age cheating.
Parents, coaches and athletes should all get targeted education regarding the value of age verification and fair play.
The sports federations and organisations could, for example, offer training courses to coaches, officials and players on the laws about age verification and fair play.
Along with highlighting the detrimental effects of age cheating, these programs ought to stress the value of ethics and fair play.
The consequences of age cheating can be far-reaching and have significant negative impacts on individuals, communities, and society as a whole.
This can create an environment where honesty and integrity are compromised, leading to a decline in trust and credibility.
We cannot protect sports integrity and guarantee fair play for all athletes without working together.
Organizations and sports federations can take big action to stop this disgusting practice. Efforts should be made to implement stricter authentication measures and promote integrity in all aspects of documentation and record-keeping.
All the culprits must face legal consequences, including fines, imprisonment, or both.
The affected institutions must adopt proactive measures to stem the vice or risk incurring financial losses and reputational damage.
Only through collective societal efforts can we combat this nefarious practice and restore trust in the integrity of our systems and institutions.