The Albany Gazette - Turkey invests in foreign legion to deliver LA Olympics gold

The move was prompted by Turkey's dire performance at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, where it failed to win a single gold among its eight medals across all sports.

Four top Jamaicans, including 2024 Olympic men's discus gold medallist Roje Stona, and a quintet of Kenyans, among them former women's marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei, have agreed to switch allegiance.

However, the man responsible for this recruitment drive, Onder Ozbilen, the team coordinator for Turkey's Olympic athletics team, insisted to AFP that it was not a case of waving the cheque book and the athletes coming running.

"It's not a Turkish guy going to some countries with a bag of money in his hands," he said.

"This is the most long-term plan and humanistic naturalization project in the world till now," he added.

It is not the first time Turkey has taken in athletes from other countries -- and nor are they the only country to do so.

Qatar, for example, secured a host of Kenyan and Ethiopian talent, including Stephen Cherono, who as Saif Saaeed Shaheen went on to be crowned steeplechase world champion in 2003 and 2005.

Ozbilen denied reports that athletes have been paid $500,000 to switch sides, but said some would receive $300,000 over a 30-month period.

That sum will be to compensate for the lack of win bonuses and loss of endorsements, as the athletes sit out the obligatory three years from the last time they represented their country before they can compete under their new flag.

Brandishing his phone, Ozbilen said he had rejected 30 other approaches from athletes, some of them American, claiming their sole interest was financial.

He has certainly succeeded in attracting the cream of Jamaican men's field event talent.

Joining Stona are Wayne Pinnock and Rajindra Campbell, who won silver and bronze in the men's long jump and shot at the Paris Olympics respectively.

The fourth recruit is highly-rated youngster Jaydon Hibbert, 21, who was fourth in the triple jump in Paris.

Fortunately for Jamaica, where track and field stars are held in high esteem, the list does not include leading sprinters such as men's 100m world champion Oblique Seville.

- 'Waters your flowers' -

The athletes will be paid a monthly salary varying from $3,000 to $7,000 and generous bonuses for any medals.

For an Olympic title, they will be rewarded with 1,000 Turkish Republic gold pieces (Cumhuriyet Altini), the equivalent of more than a million dollars.

Stona's manager Paul Doyle made no bones about why his athlete had thrown his lot in with the Turks.

Without their support, "he would have had a very difficult time continuing to dedicate himself to the sport," Doyle told AFP.

Pinnock echoed this sentiment.

"I gotta do it. I mean… I do love my country, but loyalty doesn't pay bills," the 25-year-old told The Inside Lane in July.

Ozbilen, who said Russian heptathlete Sofia Yakushina and Nigeria's 2022 Commonwealth Games 200m silver medallist Favour Ofili had also signed contracts till October 2032, rejected the idea it was all about money.

"These are not mercenary transfers," he argued, adding that several of the athletes had been "forgotten by their federations".

Canada's Olympic and two-time hammer world champion Ethan Katzberg is, though, one that got away.

"They offered some money but it wasn't even about the money," his agent Robert Wagner explained to AFP.

The foreign recruitment drive has not been met with universal joy inside Turkey, especially among athletes and coaches.

Ozbilen believes though that it will be the catalyst to grow track and field domestically.

"They will act as role models that will attract local talents," he said.

The ultimate decision on their switch being permitted lies with the sport's governing body, World Athletics, and whether they meet their stipulation of "a genuine connection with the country represented".

Wagner said he hoped the international federation will study each case "very carefully".

"It can't just be that you're just never there and just have an apartment where somebody just waters your flowers," he said drily.

Ozbilen, who says all the athletes have been provided with accommodation in Turkey, is relaxed about when the decision is finally taken.

"We are waiting respectfully, and we fully respect the roadmap," he said.

(F.Jackson--TAG)