Kenyan PM Claims Right to Host the 2020 Olympics

Amid wide reports that Africa will look to secure its first hosting of an Olympic Games in 2020, Kenya have joined the list of countries who claim that they are interested in bidding.

Prime Minister of Kenya Raila Odinga raised the possibility when he was visited by members of Brazilian football club Palmeiras.

Odinga stated: “No country in Africa has won more Olympic medals than Kenya so we have all the rights to host the Games and we are asking Brazil to support us.”

An expected bid from South Africa is already in the final stages of deciding whether to put forward a city for 2020 following the success of last year’s FIFA World Cup, with cities such as Durban and Johannesburg among the hopefuls.

Earlier this month Morocco’s Sports Minister Moncef Belkhayat revealed that there were plans for Casablanca to bid for the Games in the near future.

Since making their debut in the Games at Melbourne in 1956, Kenya has won a total of 75 medals, a remarkable 68 have been won in athletics with seven coming from boxing.

An Olympic bid from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, must still be considered a long shot with the city having made noises about trying to host the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games but a bid has never materialised.