Burundi: concern for athletics delegation at 2024 Olympics
The Burundi athletics federation has sent an official letter of protest to the president of the National Olympic Committee
Sport News Africa · Author profile ·
Listen to this story
Audio version in preparation · read aloud by your browser meanwhile
With four athletes already qualified for the 2024 Olympics, including Egide Ntakarutimana in the 5000 metres and Francine Niyomukunzi in the 5000 and 10,000 metres, the Burundi athletics federation will be the best-represented national sport in Paris, ahead of swimming (two people) and judo (one).
Read also: Basketball-Burundi: a crisis with immeasurable consequences
However, on top of the four participants (and possibly Emile Hafashimana, who can still qualify), the NOC allows the federation to have five officials (six if a fifth athlete qualifies) in the delegation. A list was therefore submitted to the National Olympic Committee. The problem is that the NOC unilaterally decided to change it.
Tensions already high for a year…
Lydia Nsekera, NOC president since 2017 and well known in the football world (she led the federation from 2004 to 2013), is accused by the president of the athletics federation, Dieudonné Kwizera, of "having no right to change the list without our agreement", which excludes the national technical director, for example. An official letter of protest was therefore written and sent on 3 July, asking to find "a joint solution".
Last year, too, Kwizera complained about interference from the NOC and from Nsekera in particular. An official IOC member since 2009, she has worked for almost two decades in Burundian, African and international sports bodies despite numerous crises and controversies.