Nairobi: World 800m champion David Rudisha and Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo will jet out Tuesday for Europe to compete in Diamond League and Grand Prix races.
The two will depart together with other athletes heading to Bristol for a pre-Olympic training camp funded by the National Olympic of Kenya (NOCK) and Bristol city, Xinhua reports.
NOCK president Kipchoge Keino said after days of deliberation about holding a training camp in United Kingdom for the Kenya Olympic team, they agreed to send athletes in from 800m down to 400m and relays while those from 1,500m going up will remain in Kenya for training.
"We have agreed to send athletes from 800m to Bristol for training. They will have modern equipment and facilities to help them sharpen their skills, speed work and other areas ahead of the London Olympics. The long distance athletes will remain in Nairobi and Iten for training and will only join the rest in London a few days to the start of the games," said Kipchoge Keino Monday.
But coaches in the Kenya team, who declined to be named, fearing victimization, said both Jelimo and Rudisha will be in Europe to fulfill contractual agreements they entered to race in Diamond League and Grand Prix.
Jelimo last week said she has a race in Brussels and Gent in Belgium while Rudisha will be making a stop in Paris in the Diamond League on Saturday.
"Both will return to Nairobi after their events to continue with the training. We are not approving their training abroad and as coaches we have written to both Athletics Kenya (AK) and NOCK about the issue," said a coach at the team camp.
Those joining the 800m champion are Anthony Chemut, who won silver in Benin during last week's Africa Athletics Championships, Timothy Kiptum (heading to Barcelona for the World Junior Championships).
Women runners in 800m are Faith Chepngetich, also in the trip to Barcelona and Eunice Sum. This means Kenya team camp in Bristol will have Mark Mutai, Anderson Mureta, Boniface Mueresa, Elphas Leken, Vincent Mumo, Boniface Mucheru, Julius Yego, Maureene Maiyo, Joyce Zakari, Benson Gicharu (Boxing), Elizabeth Andiego (boxing), Jason Dunford, David Dunford (swimming), Mercy Obiero ( weightlifting).
Kenya will only be having athletes in four disciplines -- athletics, weightlifting, boxing and swimming -- after beach volleyball women failed in their bid to win a slot in Moscow last week.
The team, which lost to Seychelles in the Africa qualifiers, in May, tried to secure a ticket at the World Cup beach volleyball in Russia but did not succeed after they lost all their matches.
