By: Alina Zheng
On July 14th, Ferdinand Omanyala, Africa’s fastest man, found himself tangled in a visa delay that threatened his availability to compete in the World Athletics Championships located in Eugene, Oregon. This caused Kenyans to accuse the United States of purposely withholding visas.
Ferdinand Omanyala planned to arrive in the United States on July 11th, so he could have five days to settle before the competition commenced. However, his visa arrived one day before the race, leaving him with only 3 hours to spare after he landed before the championship.
Omanyala told The Washington Post that he had applied for the visa along with the rest of the Kenyan team on July 7th, but he was the only team member who hadn’t received his visa the next day. As a result, he almost lost hope on the morning of July 14th. “I had already given up coming here. I was supposed to run on Friday. God works miracles.”
Omanyala finished his 100-meter race in third place in his heat, running a time of 10.10 seconds compared to his fastest-season time of 9.85, which allowed him to qualify for the July 16th semifinals, where he fell short and was eliminated.
According to Andrew Veveiros, a U.S. Embassy spokesman, the law states that visa records are confidential and “therefore we cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases.”
Kenya’s sports officials believe that Omanyala had failed to disclose some information on his visa application, which might’ve contributed to the delay. However, Omanyala said that he had not been warned that he had turned in an application with missing information. Marcel Viljoen, Omanyala’s manager, told Washington Post that he doubts the sports officials’ claim:
“As far as I know the whole team went to the embassy at the same time. Ferdinand is accustomed to the process and definitely knows the implications of leaving out information. So I doubt it.”
On social media, Kenyans spoke out about the delay, saying that the American competitors feared that the Kenyans would defeat them. Other Kenyan students have also said they have faced difficulty entering the U.S. because of visa issues. Dennis Kiogora, a founder of the Kenya Airlift Program, said that since May, only 20 out of 140 students have gotten their visas to enter America.
The United States’ visa delays have harmed many athletes and students, causing questions to be raised about America’s intention in allowing access to foreigners.
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