Drug cheats abound as athletes ‘want to get money by all means’

The words of Moses Kiptanui, one of the country’s most celebrated runners regarding widespread doping among Kenyan athletes, have come back to haunt Athletics authorities, it would appear.

In an interview with the BBC, the three-time 3,000m steeplechase world champion and coach made startling revelations that many athletes use performance-enhancing drugs as a shortcut to wealth.

“The information shows that there are a good number of athletes out there who are using drugs,” Kiptanui was quoted. “They want to get money by all means. Either by a genuine way or another way. “We have put rules in place. If we don’t use these rules then athletes will still use these drugs,” said the 43-year-old.

He blamed the vice on widespread corruption in the athletics fraternity. “If you can bribe somebody today or tomorrow, then it (a test result) is gone,” he added. “All over the world there is corruption in sport. It is not only a matter in Kenya.”

(READ: Report shows doping rampant in Kenyan sport)

The events of the last couple of days bare Kiptanui out. 

Even before the dust could settle on embarrassing revelations  by a German documentary that 25 Kenyan runners were among 150 athletes worldwide who were found with abnormal blood levels yet were not subjected to proper testing for banned drugs, Athletics Kenya suffered another credibility blow when it emerged that nine more athletes had failed tests for banned substances in long distances races.

FAILED TEST

The revelations could not have come at a worse time for Kenya’s world beating track stars who were still reeling from Rita Jeptoo’s failed dope test and the warning to former World marathon record holder Wilson Kipsang for missing out -of-competition test.

Come this week and AK yielded to pressure from the global athletics body IAAF to slap two year bans on Viola Chelangat Kimetto and Joyce Jemutai Kiplimo for testing positive for the performance enhancing substance Norandosterone. The case of Philip Kibiwot Kandie will on the other hand be reviewed on Tuesday.

What raises eyebrows is the length of time the Riadha House mandarins have taken to act on cases of failed drug tests.

A case in point is that of Kimetto, whose urine tested positive in competition during the Macau Galaxy Entertainment International Marathon held on December 1, last year.

(READ: Lamine Diack's son steps down in IAAF doping probe)

(READ: Cherangany MP to table doping bill in Parliament)

It is only after the IAAF raised the red flag, questioning why AK had turned a blind eye to the findings and allowed Kimetto to continue competing.  To save face, AK backdated Kimetto’s ban to October 12 this year.

Another case in point is Kiplimo’s whose  urine sample tested positive after the Yangzhou Jianzen International Half Marathon held in the Chinese city on April 20, 2014.
AK has now owned up and summoned  five more Kenyan elite athletes - Maunga James Nyakabira, Ndirangu Alice, Elizabeth Jebet Chelagat, Isaac Kimaiyo Kemboi and Bernard Mwendia Muthoni to explain why they failed doping tests.

AK WARNING

A statement from Athletics Kenya warned all athletes in the Registered Testing Pool that it is their responsibility to provide IAAF with complete and accurate information on their whereabouts and should update on whereabouts should any change occur to [email protected].

“Athletics Kenya would like to report that it has received communication from IAAF on the notification of a confirmed missed doping test for Mr. Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich. The notification followed an unsuccessful attempt to conduct an Out-of-Competition test on the athlete on the 11th of November, 2014,” read the statement

A source at Riadha House blamed AK for not acting on time to deal with doping cases, especially against Kimetto. For all the embarrassment visited upon the Riadha House mandarins, it is Jeptoo’s case that stands out. AK had previously downplayed allegations of rampant doping saying it was only little-known athletes who were engaged in the vice and that the country’s top athletes were “as clean  as snow in Europe.”

Jeptoo, the world’s current top female marathon runner who tested positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO during an out-of-competition anti-doping control.

(READ: It was wrong for athletes to condemn Rita)

(READ: Rita Jeptoo's doping case: Is the credibility of Kenyan runners at stake?)

Kenya has been under pressure to take action over doping after a string of positive tests in recent years.

But Jeptoo’s positive test — making her the first big-name Kenyan athlete to have been caught — has stunned the country. That AK was determined to go an extra mile to “protect” Kenya’s “rich” Athletics history was demonstrated in its total boycott of the government’s Anti-Doping Task Force Committee sessions, hence missing what perhaps could have made the committee’s report more credible.