(ATR) A spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee tells Around the Rings "that it is ready to normalize the situation" with the Kenyan Olympic Committee.
NOC-K held a presidential election on Sept. 29 after months of delays and candidate confusion. IOC member Paul Tergat was selected to lead the National Olympic Committee in an unopposed election.
Tergat was challenged by Kenya Swimming Association vice chairman Patrick Muyah, but the NOC-K general assembly voted against his candidacy.
The IOC tells ATR that IOC member Sam Ramsamy attended the election and that the results are approved.
"The IOC has also confirmed to the NOC that it is ready to normalize the situation and to resume progressively its regular activities with the NOC," the IOC said in a statement. "The IOC is now working with the NOC to review all the details and the next steps."
Included in the next steps will likely be an effort to restore Olympic Solidarity funding to the NOC that has been suspended by the IOC since March 2017 when NOC-K initially failed to approve a new constitution.
Tergat succeeds Kip Keino, who despite conflicting reports did not stand for the presidency. Keino had been in charge of the NOC-K since 1999, serving four terms.
Holding elections has been a turbulent, stop and start process for the NOC-K this year. The committee avoided an IOC suspension by passing a new constitution in March, but repeated delays in holding an election led to the IOC to stop solidarity payments.
In August, the IOC said it would not ban the NOC-K, but said conditions had not improved enough to resume funding. Tergat was to run unopposed as president in May, but an injunction filed by the Kenya Taekwondo Association prevented the elections. Both the NOC-K and the KTA attempted to withdraw the injunction, but were stopped in August by the Kenyan Sports Ministry, according to local reports.
The incident echoed attempts by the ministry to disband the NOC following the Rio 2016 Olympics. After the Rio 2016 Olympics numerous NOC-K officials were arrested for graft, and the sports ministry attempted to disband the NOC citing "mismanagement".
Written by Kevin Nutley and Aaron Bauer.
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