This archive report was first published on 19 May 2020.
Olga Lyakhova, a Ukrainian athlete who won a bronze medal at the 2019 European Championships 800 meters event, has found herself in trouble with Kenyans on Twitter after a message of goodwill about her training and stay in Kenya went awry.
Lyakhova, who is currently in Iten, Kenya, with her boyfriend Eugene Hlinski, had posted a series of tweets in Russian, which were later translated by Google and shared on social media.
However, the translation did not accurately convey Lyakhova's intended message, and Kenyans on Twitter reacted angrily to her comments, which they perceived as negative and insulting.
"Life in Kenya is moving slow, it's not metropolis where people don't have time to raise their head to look at the sky," Lyakhova had written, which was interpreted as a criticism of Kenyan culture.
"There is the same price for products everywhere in the market, there is no price for products. You can live here, even for little money. Local products are cheap, but the meat is expensive," she added, which was seen as a negative commentary on the Kenyan economy.
However, Lyakhova later clarified that she had been misunderstood and that her original message was meant to be positive.
"I want to ask Kenyans to forgive me because what I wrote in Russian meant that Kenya has good time for socialising compared to European countries where even small children are busy in their gadgets," she said.
"I love Kenya and I will always be coming here to train for various competitions," Lyakhova added, in an attempt to clear up the misunderstanding.
