{UAH} Athletics Kenya under fire amid Jeptoo doping scandal

Edward P'Ojim/WBK/Ocen Nekyon,

What do you make of this? Is Kenyan athletics imploding?

George Okello



×.Stefan Smith, Ailéen Kimutai, AFPNov. 1, 2014, 11:52 AM
591facebook linkedin twitter email print
© AFP/File Timothy A. Clary
Rita Jeptoo wins the Women's Elite division of the 118th Boston
Marathon April 21, 2014

Nairobi (AFP) - Kenya's athletics bosses came in for fierce criticism
on Saturday after it emerged Rita Jeptoo, currently the world's
leading female marathon runner, tested positive in an
out-of-competition anti-doping test.

A senior Athletics Kenya official, vice president Jackson Tuwei, has
revealed to AFP that Jeptoo's 'A' sample had contained traces of the
blood-boosting drug EPO, the same blood-boosting drug used by Lance
Armstrong to cheat his way to seven Tour de France wins.

The revelation has stunned Kenya, whose naturally gifted distance
runners are a major source of national pride, but has also left
Athletics Kenya bosses facing renewed allegations of having ignored a
worsening problem.

"If Kenya wants to win back, or at least buffer the loss of trust that
is inevitable as a result of the Jeptoo test, then it must immediately
and without delay open the system up to independent international
scrutiny," wrote Ross Tucker, a prominent South African sports
scientist.

"That means naming the coaches, agents and support systems of Jeptoo,
and fully exposing this particular problem," said Tucker, who runs the
influential sportsscientists.com website.

Jeptoo, a three-times winner of the Boston marathon and a two-time
champion in Chicago, is also the biggest name in Kenyan athletics ever
to have been tested positive.

World Marathon Majors (WMM) organisers also said they were postponing
the awarding of this year's $500,000 prize to 33-year-old Jeptoo. She
had been due to attend the New York marathon on Sunday to collect the
prize, the biggest payout in distance running.

Her last win, in Chicago in October, came weeks after the urine test
was carried out -- and secured her overall win of the WMM series,
which includes marathons in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York
and Tokyo.

"The credibility of Kenya is at stake," admitted Barnaba Korir,
Athletics Kenya Nairobi branch chairman and Jeptoo's former manager.

He said Athletics Kenya, and especially its veteran president Isaiah
Kiplagat, "has not been able to handle the seriousness of the doping
issue and have been taking it too lightly."

"It was just a matter of time before a top athlete was found out and
Jeptoo's case has confirmed these fears. They cannot sweep things
under the carpet," he said.



- Blaming foreign agents -



According to Athletics Kenya, Jeptoo has denied ever taking
performance-enhancing drugs. He 'B' sample has yet to be tested.

Kenya has been under pressure from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
to take action over doping after a string of positive test in recent
years.

But a report from an independent task-force released this year did not
uncover any evidence of the use of the drugs among top athletes, and
insisted that "the few reported cases were aided and abetted by
professional doctors, managers and agents."

Kenyan anti-doping task force chairman, Moni Wekesa, continued to
blame dishonest foreign agents and doctors for Jeptoo's positive test.

"It did not come as a surprise at all. In our investigation we stated
clearly that our athletes are managed by foreign agents. It is these
agents who are giving the athletes these drugs," he said.

"Athletics Kenya must put its house in order."

Tucker, however, said blaming outsiders is an "utterly and totally
useless" and "irrelevant as a defence against doping."

"The reality is that it doesn't matter how the problem arrived. It's
there now, and it's your athletes who are using it," he said, saying
it was now up to Kenya to "change the game or let it slide into the
abyss of cynicism that is international sport."


More from AFP:
•Nishikori, Ferrer into Barcelona semis
•Judge mulls charges for migrant disaster ship skipper
•Eccentrics camp out in London to await royal birth
•Guantanamo ex-inmate granted bail in Canada, May release likely
•Woods commits to Players Championship
More from AFP:
•Nishikori, Ferrer into Barcelona semis
•Judge mulls charges for migrant disaster ship skipper
•Eccentrics camp out in London to await royal birth
•Guantanamo ex-inmate granted bail in Canada, May release likely
•Woods commits to Players Championship
facebook linkedin twitter email print

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-athletics-kenya-under-fire-amid-jeptoo-doping-scandal-2014-11#ixzz3YFwDlv3W

--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com or Abbey Semuwemba at: abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com.