Kenya has clean record in Olympics

Only one Kenyan has ever been barred from the Olympic Games for doping: David Munyasia.

The boxer was ejected from Athens 2004 after he tested positive for cathine, a stimulant found in miraa (khat), before the competition.

The bantamweight silver medallist at the 2003 All-Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria, qualified for Athens by winning the silver medal at the first International Boxing Association African Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

But Kenya’s clean record is offering no comfort this year, given that 15 athletes are serving bans for violating the International Association of Athletics Federation’s (IAAF) anti-doping rule.

The latest doping report, dated July 20, shows more half of the banned Kenyan athletes (eight) are women. At 111 the proportion of women serving bans is lower globally, a third of the 349.

The substance of choice for Kenyan athletes who dope seems to be nandrolone, taken by seven of the 15 athletes serving a ban. Athletes who take nandrolone test positive for its derivative, norandrosterone.

The IOC retains samples for 10 years after they are collected, to allow for retesting with newer methods

The anabolic steriod can improve an athlete’s ability to train harder by reducing tiredness and helping the body to build muscle by producing more protein, according to the BBC Sport Academy.

Another two were banned for using the blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO), while seven per cent (one) athlete was banned for using Methandienone and Clenbuterol, a combination that reduces body fat while promoting the growth of skeletal muscle.

In its latest attempt to restore integrity to international competition, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently begun to retest samples from previous Games.

This year, it announced that it had caught 31 athletes in six sports who competed at Beijing 2008. Thy were among 454 whose samples from the Beijing Games were retested at a lab in Switzerland.

The IOC said it targeted athletes who were likely to compete in Rio and is awaiting the results of another 250 samples taken at London 2012.

WEIGHTLIFTING MOST DOPED

The US and Russia may have dominated the Olympics medal table over the years but their athletes have also topped the doping charts with 18 Americans and 14 Russians testing positive for banned substances at the Games since 1968, when IOC conducted the first test on competitors. Bulgaria, Greece and Ukraine are tied in third place with nine banned from each.

A review of data by Nation Newsplex found that 167 athletes from 58 countries were banned from past Games for use of drugs, according to IOC.

The percentage of doping reported in the Olympics has grown, perhaps due to stricter controls. Athens 2004 had the most violations of anti-doping rules (26), followed by Beijing 2008 (20).

Weightlifting is the most doped sport with 36 violations, more than a quarter of all Olympics doping cases.

As at last November, Russia had 43 athletes suspended from all competitions in athletics for doping. It was followed by India with 34, Morocco (16) and Kenya (15).

According to IAAF rules, it is not necessary that intent, fault, negligence or knowing use on the athlete’s part be demonstrated to establish an anti-doping rule violation under Article 2.1. “The number of tests conducted during Olympic Games has increased over the years: Up from 3,600 in Athens to over 5,000 in London,” IOC states on its website.

“While this increase serves as a demonstration of the IOC’s commitment to ensuring that athletes play fair, there is a greater shift towards using a more intelligent testing strategy through increased targeted out of competition tests.”

The IOC retains samples for 10 years after they are collected, to allow for retesting with newer methods after the Games.

An analysis of Olympic data by Newsplex revealed that the IOC has withdrawn 53 medals from athletes who tested positive for banned substances or admitted to doping over time.

TWO YEARS

The most high-profile athletes in recent years to have had their medals stripped were 100 metres runners Ben Johnson from Canadian and American Marion Jones.

After a world record 100m run at Seoul ’98, Johnson was stripped of his gold medal, world records and other medals after he tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol.

The sprinter returned at Barcelona ’92 but did not make the finals. The following year, he tested positive again for steroids, leading to a life ban by the IAAF.

After years of denial, Jones, who won five sprint medals at Sydney 2000, admitted she took steroids for two years from 1999. She was later stripped of her three Olympic gold and two bronze medals but retained her three world championship gold medals from 1997 to 1999. She served six months in prison for fraud and drug use.

The best-known Kenyan athletes ever banned from competition for doping were Rita Jeptoo and John Ngugi. Jeptoo, a Boston and Chicago Marathons winner, failed an out-of-competition test last September for the blood-booster EPO.

Arguably one of the greatest cross country runners of all time and winner of the 5,000m at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Ngugi received a four-year suspension in 1993 for refusing to take an out-of-competition drug test but the ban was later reduced after he appealed.

Africa 400m hurdlers Joyce Zakary and Francisca Koki, who failed pre-competition tests at last year’s Beijing Championships, and 800m runner Agnes Jeruto, who tested positive out of competition in April last year, are serving the longest bans among Kenyans: Four years.