Doping: Athletics Kenya not off the hook yet

Moses Kiptanui

Former three-time World steeplechase champion Moses Kiptanui addresses the Press at his office in Eldoret on November 10, 2015. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA |

Photo credit: File | Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Three-time world champion wants athletes, coaches and managers punished
  • Kiptanui has often accused top officials in AK of playing a part in runaway doping that has seen more than 35 Kenyan athletes banned.

Kenya should not celebrate just yet for not having been implicated in the doping scandal facing Russian athletics, a Kenyan track legend has warned.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) on Monday recommended the suspension of Russia from global athletics after its investigative team uncovered “state-supported” cover-ups of doping violations in the Eastern European country.

Moses Kiptanui, the first man to blow the whistle on the use of banned substances in Kenya in 1991, says government agencies, including Athletics Kenya, need to take advantage of the “mercies” to put the house in order.

“Russia itself is staring at an indefinite ban and we should be asking ourselves, which country is next?” he said. “Our country has suffered a number of bans and it is on the increase; so, definitely, we are not safe yet.”

The three-time World steeplechase champion was highly rebuked when he declared that use of dope was rampant in Kenyan athletics. He was furious then that AK’s current vice-president, David Okeyo, accused him of “using drugs” while he ran until late 1990s.

On Tuesday, Kiptanui said several changes in the fight against dope — including “corruption for doping cover-up allegations” against former IAAF president Lamine Diack, should be a warning to Kenya.

“Doping has been with us,” the retired athlete said at his office in Eldoret. “It is only that people got anxious because the world was feared to make a sudden expose about it. “When I heard that they were investigation the top man (Diack), who was the head of world athletics, I said, ‘what will stop these other small fish like in Athletics Kenya from being summoned?’”

AK TO BLAME

Kiptanui has often accused top officials in AK of playing a part in runaway doping that has seen more than 35 Kenyan athletes banned. The 1996 Olympic steeplechase silver medallist said doping is run by a global chain of cartels and that AK is to blame for the use of banned substances.

“Athletics Kenya knows very well the coaches and managers who administer these drugs to their athletes but nothing has been done to them,” said Kiptanui. “An athlete is banned for two years and they get back and business goes on.”

Matthew Kisorio was Kenya’s first elite athlete to be banned in 2012. He admitted that his then coach, Claudio Barardeli, knew of the drugs. The coach, whose two other athletes — Rita Jeptoo and Agatha Jeruto — also received bans, was not punished.

“IAAF does not directly address athletes but does so through the federation, that is why I can boldly say a few people in AK are encouraging doping and are behind several cover-ups,” he added.

The 1990 Africa Championships steeplechase gold medallist sought to qualify his claim: “Take the example of the two ladies who were banned at the last Beijing World Championships; no one talks about their cases anymore.

“Why? Because a few people in AK want it to be that way.”

Lamenting that the Anti-Doping Association of Kenya (Adak) lacked legal capacity to prosecute offenders, he proposed stringent measures — including lifetime bans — against athletes caught having used performance-boosting substances, alongside their coaches and managers.