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Saif Saaeed Shaheen: How and why I dumped Kenyan passport
Publication Date: 6/2/2005
In part two of our three-part special report on how Kenyans are running away to the Gulf states, PETER NJENGA and DAVID MACHARIA interview Saif Saaeed Shaheen on how and why he changed his affiliation in the world steeplechase record holder's first exclusive interview interview since his defection to Qatar.
Qatar's former Kenyan world 3,000 metres steeplechase champion Saif Saeed Shaheen celebrates after clocking seven minutes, 53.63 seconds, a new world record in the race, in Brussels, Belgium on September 4 last year. Photo/File and David Macharia
In January 2000, Stephen Cherono joined the Kim McDonald stable which had training venues in Nyahururu, Boston and Melbourne.
He was taken in on the strength of having won the world youth title the previous year in the 2,000 metres steeplechase as well as being a member of the famous Cherono family.
Cherono trained under respected coach, Brother Colm O'Connell of St Patrick's High School, Iten. He showed all signs of following in the footsteps of his elder brother, Christopher "Jogoo" Kosgei, winner of the steeplechase world title in 1999.
The late McDonald knew he had a champion in the making. An athlete who could remain at the top and rule in the new decade of the millennium.
He immediately took him to Melbourne where life was rather routine and boring compared to that in his home town of Iten.
Besides running, there was little else to do.
Qatar's former Kenyan world 3,000 metres steeplechase champion Saif Saeed Shaheen celebrates after clocking seven minutes, 53.63 seconds, a new world record in the race, in Brussels, Belgium on September 4 last year.
As a distraction, he would attend rugby matches or any other sporting activities in the Australian city. On January 19, 2000, during a rugby match which he can't recall who was playing, Cherono browsed through the day's newspapers at half-time and came a cross a rather peculiar advert placed by the Qatar athletics federation seeking athletes who wished to become citizens of the Gulf nation and continue running.
That same day, Cherono wrote an email to the advertisers which was answered immediately.
He told none of his Kenyan colleagues or his manager McDonald of his plans, a secret he kept until his citizenship application papers had reached the powers that are in Doha, the Qatari capital.
Three months later, he competed at an international meeting in Potchefstroom, South Africa, which was to act as a reference.
Shaheen (centre) at the podium in Paris with former countryman Ezekiel Kemboi (right) and Spain's Eliseo Martin. Kemboi won the silver and Martin the bronze at the world championships.
But as fate would have it, he contacted typhoid in April which kept him out of competition for the rest of the year.
According to him, by then his application had reached the ruler of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who overthrew his father in 1995 in a bloodless coup and within 10 years had turned Qatar around into an economic powerhouse through the sale of natural gas and oil.
The younger Al Thani also resolved long-standing border disputes with both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Oil and natural gas revenues have lifted Qatar to almost the same level with the seven most industrialised nations on earth with a per capita income of $23,000 (Sh1.7 million) a far cry from Kenya's $1,100 (Sh83,600).
In 2001, Cherono did not represent Kenya at the world championships but the following year, he won a gold medal for Kenya at the Commonwealth Games in the steeplechase which accelerated his application for Qatari citizenship.
He finally got his Qatari passport in 2003.
"I kept everybody in the dark and by the time Athletics Kenya was informed, it was only fair that I was to be released because the whole process had taken me three good years."
Athletics Kenya decided to overlook the three year rule ? which requires an athlete to let three years lapse before he can run for his or her adopted nation ? as stipulated by the International Association of Athletics Federations following a mutual agreement with Qatar Athletics Federation.
But all along, Albert Chepkurui was also involved in the whole deal.
The Qataris were then careful in selecting Cherono's Arabic name to complete the defection. And they came up with Saif Saaeed Shaheen or the Falcon of Qatar, who will soar high.
The rest is history.
Shaheen beat Ezekiel Kemboi at the 2003 world championships in Paris and this drew anger in Kenya which led to cabinet minister Najib Balala appointing a probe committee.
But after visiting Qatar, the Sports minister softened his stance and said Kenyans were free to seek citizenship "because Kenya had enough athletes."
Shaheen during last week's exclusive interview with the Daily Nation in Iten.
Shaheen said he was promised a lifetime US$1,000 (Sh76,000) monthly stipend by the Qataris.
From a young man who was unable to enlist with the Kenyan military like his brothers Kosgei and Abraham, Shaheen's life took a dramatic turn within three months.
Qatar bought him a Toyota Prado and a four bedroomed villa in Doha on top of a reported US$1 million (Sh76 million) incentive for bringing honour to his country whose national anthem was played for the first time at a global athletics event during the medal awards ceremony for Shaheen's gold in Paris.
But is it true he received the million dollars?
Shaheen denies this.
But he confirms getting the Toyota Prado, just like footballer Dennis Oliech who plays his trade in Doha for Al Arabi Football Club and who reportedly turned down a Sh200 million cash incentive to follow in Shaheen's footsteps and get a Qatari passport.
In Qatar, Shaheen does not meet footballer Oliech.
Shaheen was also not received by a million people in Doha as was reported after his Paris triumph.
After Paris, Shaheen took part in remaining events leading to the IAAF World Athletics final in Monaco and by the time he returned to Qatar, his victory had somehow been forgotten.
However, it is true that Al Thani called personally to congratulate him and because of conflicting schedules he is yet to meet with his new subject in person.
But still, they communicate a lot.
The President of the Qatar Athletics Federation, Brigadier Gal Dahlan Al-Hamad, calls at 6.00 am daily to know how Shaheen is faring, having already read the Kenyan daily newspapers' on-line editions.
Some time this year, the Brigadier called, worried by a threat Sports minister Ochillo Ayacko had issued to Qatari athletes telling them that they risked being denied entry into Kenya and that they must also surrender their Kenyan passports.
Shaheen assured him he had not been personally served with this notice.
Neither had they been subjected to unnecessary delays by the immigration at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport like in 2003 when Kenyan authorities detained Qatari athletes at the airport for interrogation.
World 3,000 metres steeplechase champion Saif Saeed Shaheen in full flight on his way to winning the world title in Paris in 2003.
It was after a phone call was made in the 2003 incident that a government official arrived at the airport and processed the athletes' visas in record time, according to Italian athletics coach Renato Canova who handles athletes from Qatar and Bahrain
"We realised there was no bad blood between Kenya and Qatar," Canova said, "unlike a few weeks earlier when Najib Balala was breathing fire."
Shaheen praises the Qatar Athletics Federation which has not imposed any conditions that would jeopardise their training or comfort in life.
Shaheen hardly lives in Doha although he must return home for 10 days after every three months.
Apart from the hot weather, Cherono says the Qatar is good. He decides on his training programme and gets all the assistance he requires. He can also travel at short notice, business class, of course. Other Qatar athletes also travel business class, like they did on the way from Nairobi to the recent world cross-country championships in Paris when they parted company on board with their former compatriots who flew economy class.
Almost everybody in Qatar knows Shaheen now.
The only gift they have not given him is a wife which he doesn't need because he already has a Kenyan girlfriend whom he intends to marry in the near future.
Training in Qatar is out of question.
Qatar is a flat country covered by sand and lose gravel, the highest elevation being Qurayn Abu al Bawl at 103 metres above sea level.
It, therefore, becomes imperative for him and the rest of his colleagues to train abroad.
Iten at an elevation of over 2,400m above sea level is one of the ideal places.
Other Qatari camps are in Morocco, South Africa, Brazil and the United States.
Shaheen has visited all these places apart from the United States because of a problem with his Qatari passport which was noted by a visa officer at the US Embassy in Nairobi.
After changing his citizenship, Shaheen's new passport stated that he was born in Qatar while his old Kenyan passport said he was born in Kenya, an anomaly the American authorities were not comfortable with.
The error will take about two months to rectify because, unlike Kenya, there are no short cuts in Qatar where immigration rules are followed to the letter, including a six-month waiting period for new applications pending final approval by the Amir.
In 2003, after undergoing orientation with the world title in the bag, the Qatar government appointed a financial advisor to assist him with investments options which Shaheen turned down and, instead, decided to keep his money in the bank.
"Investments do not mix with running," said Shaheen during a lunch time interview at the Kerio View Hotel, one of the North Rift's best kept secrets.
The Kerio View also hosts tourists, some of them bungee jumpers who use the area near the Kamariny Show ground to jump down the expansive Kerio Valley.
Money, Shaheen told us, can confuse anybody.
He is not in a hurry to invest in Kenya. A visit to his home proved him right.
Unlike his Kenyan colleagues who combine running with business and construction projects, Shaheen concentrates on his running for the time being.
Why did he quit Kenya?
Part of the reason is because of the competitive environment here and few opportunities available locally.
A champion today could be relegated to an also-ran by the crop of young, hungry youths determined to enter the international circuit.
Renato Canova, the Italian coach who admitted assisting Kenyans to move to the Gulf states, talks to the Daily Nation in a recent interview.
There are also very many qualifying rounds before the final national trials.
He has not undergone such a punishing regime in Qatar so far and his training expenses are catered for.
"Investments will come later," he tells us.
How about his relationship with Kenyans?
"We are brothers but competitors on the field, each pursuing his own goal.
"If I am going to marry a Kenyan what does that tells you?"
Shaheen deposited his Kenyan passport with the Kenyan mission in Saudi Arabia.
He may not have helped many people but his word is taken seriously back "home" and one of the first beneficiaries was Renato Canova, the Italian coach who admitted assisting Kenyans to move to the Gulf states in an interview with American on-line edition, MenRacing.com.
Canova had coached Shaheen's elder brother, Kosgei, the 1999 world champion in the steeplechase.
Canova is closely linked to Italian athletics agent Gianni di Madonna whose athletes are, for inexplicable reasons, heading to the Gulf state.
Canova's local linkman is Barnabas Korir.
All foreign athletics agents have hired Kenyans to assist them locally with logistics like travel and identifying potential runners.
After changing affiliation, one of the first Kenyans to get a coaching job was William Tanui, the 1992 Olympic champion at the 800 metres.
Tanui travelled with Shaheen and Albert Chepkurui (Abdullah Hassan) to the 2003 Paris world championships and did a good job for that matter as their coach.
However, along the way, he was eased out and Canova installed.
Canova, who was unavailable during this interview, in quoted by the website saying: " When Cherono won the (2003) World Championships, in Qatar nobody knew who was the coach.
"Stephen introduced me to the federation, telling them, 'This is my coach.'
"So the officials of the federation wanted it to be official, that I become the coach of Qatar.
"It was a long situation, because I never look at it for money, but I wanted the opportunity to have a strategy for developing the country, not only to be the coach of Shaheen."
Canova coaches about 30 Kenyans at top level.
"I was told when I become official coach of Qatar, I cannot continue to coach athletes from other countries.
"So one of the parts of my negotiations was I told them every country could ask me what I can do, but not to tell me what I must not do."
He may not have helped many people but his word is taken seriously back "home" and one of the first beneficiaries was Renato Canova, the Italian coach who admitted assisting Kenyans to move to the Gulf states.
Tomorrow: The Olympics crisis and Canova owns up.