World Athletics has rejected requests from 11 athletes to switch their allegiance to Turkey ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
Stars from four nations including Olympic gold medallist and record holder Rojé Stona attempted to transfer to the European country.
But a review conducted by World Athletics ruled the switch would “compromise eligibility rules”.
The panel also rejected the applications on the grounds that the Turkish government co-ordinated a recruitment strategy that involved offering the athletes lucrative contracts.
“[The] approval of these applications would impinge upon and compromise the imperatives underlying the World Athletics eligibility rules and transfer of allegiance regulations,” World Athletics said in a statement.
It continues: “The panel found that the applications formed part of a co-ordinated recruitment strategy led by the Türkiye government acting through a wholly‑owned and financed government club, to attract overseas athletes through lucrative contracts.
“With the aim of facilitating transfers of allegiance and enabling those athletes to represent Türkiye at future international competitions, including the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.”
The rejected athletes include Jamaican stars Stona, Rajindra Campbell, 30, Wayne Pinnock, 25, and Jaydon Hibbert, 21.
Stona, 27, won discus gold at the Paris 2024 Games and switched allegiance to Turkey in June – a move that was only confirmed by Turkey’s Olympic athletics team last month.
It was reported both Stona and Campbell would receive a $700,000 signing bonus to make the switch.
Russian athlete Sophia Yakushina, 20, and Favour Ofili, 23, of Nigeria have also been denied, despite the latter making her request on the grounds her career had been mismanaged by Nigeria’s failure to meet minimum anti-doping testing requirements at the Tokyo Games, which meant she missed out.
Kenyan marathon runner Brigid Kosgei, 32, is another whose request has been rejected, along with her compatriots Brian Kibor, 25, Nelvin Jepkemboi, 24, Relin Amanang’ole, 23 and 30-year-old Ronald Kwemoi, who is a 5,000m Olympic silver medallist.
All 11 athletes will not be allowed to represent Turkey in national or international competition, though they are eligible to compete for club teams and they can live and train in the country.
Turkey have failed to win a medal in track and field at the last two Olympics, with their last podium coming at Rio 2016 when Yasmani Copella won silver in the 400m hurdles.
They managed just eight medals in Paris and have eclipsed that number at just one of the previous five Summer Games.
World Athletics’ clampdown comes after 25 athletes had their allegiance transfer approved in 2025.
Tennis star Naomi Osaka famously renounced her US citizenship to represent Japan at the Tokyo Games, though she was born in the country and her mother is Japanese.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe vowed to stop athletes switching nationality after stating the “present rules are no longer fit for purpose… and are open to abuse.”
“We have witnessed in the last few years the changing shape of our sport which at its best is a championship-based sport (where) the best athletes competing against each other with national identity,” he said in 2017.
”I can’t have a situation where I’ve got federation presidents reporting to me that most mornings they are waking up to emails with names of athletes looking for flags of convenience.”
