Kenya starts vaccinating Olympic athletes

Kenya on Thursday started vaccinating its Olympic athletes against Covid-19, paving the way to compete in the Tokyo Games.

All the 75 athletes in the Olympic team bubble at Nairobi's Kasarani stadium were vaccinated on Thursday, in an exercise which will also cover the Paralympic teams, rugby sevens and the officials working with Kenya Safari Rally preparations.

"It's critical that the athletes are vaccinated against Covid 19. We are now waiting for the current lockdown to end so that the athletes can race in competitive team events," National Olympic Committee of Kenya general secretary Francis Mutuku told AFP.

Kenya, a world athletics superpower, hopes to take a team of 100 athletes to the rescheduled Tokyo games which will be held between July 23 and August 8.

Kenya finished 15th and as the top African nation at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, with a total of 13 medals: six gold, six silver and one bronze.

Mutuku said all the Olympic hopefuls will be required to take part in the vaccination process which is targetting a total of 3,500 athletes, coaches, officials and handlers across the country ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics and the Safari rally, which acts as the sixth round of the World Rally championships scheduled for June 24-27.