Yasemin Can, a Turkish athlete of Kenyan descent, dominated the 10,000-metre race at the postponed 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey.
The Organisation of Islamic Corporation’s Games, which began on August 9 and will end on August 18, are currently underway.
Due to its timing with the 2020 Olympic Games, they were postponed from last year.
For the competition, Yasemin (born Vivian Jemutai) trained at the Kapsait Athletics Training Camp and Iten in Elgeyo Marakwet. She finished first in 32 minutes, 34.33 seconds, beating Bahrain’s Bontu Rebitu (32 minutes, 59.19 seconds) and Kenyan-born Bahraini Ruth Chebet (33:03.13).
The Kenyan-born Turk has enjoyed a successful career. She placed seventh in the 10,000 meter race in her debut Olympics appearance in 2016, clocking a time of 30:26:41.
She ran a 14:40:70 for third place in the 5,000-meter race in the Ostrava Meeting the previous year. She ran a Turkish national record of 1:06:20 this year to place seventh at the 2022 World Half Marathon Championships.
At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, she placed eighth in the women’s 5,000-meter race. In 2016, the 25-year-old converted to Turkish citizenship.
Another Kenyan-born Turk, Aras Kaya (Amos Kibitok), came in fourth place in the men’s 5,000-meter race, which was won by Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew (13:51.64), followed by Morocco’s Mohamed Fares (13:54.02), and Uganda’s Abel Chebet (13:54.930).
In addition to athletics, the Islamic Solidarity Games also include swimming, cycling, fencing, judo, gymnastics, volleyball, and archery.
