Kenya's athletics officials have changed the departure date for the national athletics team to Beijing for this year's Olympic Games by moving it back by a week.

Chef de mission David Okeyo said late Thursday that the team's officials were working on securing tickets to travel on Aug. 11 as opposed to Aug. 3 as had been earlier arranged due to adverse weather conditions in Beijing.

"We have contacted Emirates Airlines to reschedule the bookings for Aug. 11 and they are yet to confirm that proposal from their Dubai office," Okeyo said.

"We received a request from the coaches and we are trying to work with Emirates to see whether we can get bookings for Aug. 11. Demand for flights to Beijing is so high at the moment that we could not get bookings for August 10 but we are hopeful that we will succeed," said Okeyo.

Okeyo however said that the rest of the Olympic squad will leave next week as had been earlier planned.

"The boxers, swimming officials, rowers and taekwondo team will all leave next week in time for the opening ceremony," he said.

He said the marathoners will be the last ones to arrive in Beijing on Aug. 16, "we booked their flights way in advance so they have no problem," he said.

The National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) has also clarified that athletes selected at the national Olympic trials will line-up for competition in Beijing unless injury or sickness prevents them from donning the national strip.

Okeyo said the decisions were made at an executive meeting to avert a crisis that had caused disquiet in the squad residing in Nairobi's Kasarani stadium.

"The athletes we selected at the trials on July 5 are the ones who will represent the country. But we shall carry the reserves so that in case one of the athletes is unable to compete in Beijing, then we shall have an alternative," Okeyo said.

World Cross country silver medallist Leonard Komon, Africa 800 meters champion David Rudisha, Paul Kipsiele Koech, Josephat Ndambiri, Africa 5,000 meters silver medallist Isaac Songok, 2005 Boston marathon winner Rita Jeptoo and world champion Luke Kibet were all selected as reserve athletes by Athletics Kenya.

However, the official insisted that the eight reserves added to the 37 selected at the trials would still travel. "But we urge selected runners not to panic since their positions in the team are secure."

The decisions came after unrest in the national squad following widely reported rumors that no athlete was assured of an automatic starting place.

A stormy meeting between the runners and the team's management on Wednesday night led to calls of the reserves to be left behind and the departure date originally set for August 1 to be pushed back.

Reports said a number of Beijing bound runners and retired 10,000 meters great, Moses Tanui, had also pressed on NOCK to delay the departure of the team to China.

They are concerned that sending the team way before competition starts could have adverse effects on their performance.

"Beijing will be very hot and this could force athletes to take lots of water that could lead to undesired weight gain," said Tanui, who won the 1991 World Championship gold medal in Tokyo, told a local daily, the Standard.

"We need to take the team there very close to actual competition to get them participate at their peak condition," he added.

Source:Xinhua