Recent Ban on Decorated Runner Continues Scrutiny of Doping in Kenya

This ban of an elite athlete continues the heightened scrutiny that has followed the Kenyan athletics community. In a 2022 report, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said distance running was the most tested sport in the east African country between 2004 and 2018, and it accounted for 131 Adverse Additional Findings (AAFs) - which indicates the presence of prohibited substances - in that period.

The WADA report doesn’t account for more recent punishments, like the four-year ban each issued to Olympic medalist Wilson Kipsang and former London marathon winner Daniel Wanjiru in 2020, the two-year ban for World Championships gold medalist Elijah Manangoi, a second time doping violation against former Tokyo marathon winner, Sarah Chepchirchir which led to an 8-year ban, and several more high profile cases.

Kenya’s incredibly lengthy list of ineligible athletes has thrown its athletics situation into a reputational crisis that it is now trying to get out of. “We’re trying to clean up our country,” Faith Kipyegon, the Kenyan middle-distance runner who broke three world records last year and has never failed a doping test, told Associated Press last year.

Kipyegon is referring to increasing anti-doping oversight locally. Just this week, the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) provisionally suspended 33 sportsmen and women, 26 of them being from athletics (track and field). Amongst those suspended is last year’s Amsterdam Marathon champion, Joshua Belet, and he could be banned for several years if a tribunal upholds his suspension.

Created amidst the threat of Kenya being banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics, ADAK has had to improve its capacity over the years, and even more dramatically in recent times after it dodged an athletics ban in late 2022. As part of its brush with the ban, the government said it will commit $25 million to anti-doping over the next five years, and the number of doping cases has greatly increased since.

According to ADAK legal officer Bildad Rogoncho, anti-doping efforts have been enhanced by the government’s financial commitment, enabling the agency to visit athletes’ camps and conduct more out-of-competition testing. “We didn’t have most of these athletes’ data due to lack of resources but we are now empowered to reach many,” Rongocho says.

Perhaps the most important element in Kenya’s anti-doping quest is integrity, or the lack of it. In its 2022 report, WADA stated that all seven of the athletes it interviewed said their doping violations were caused by over-the-counter medication. It added that none of them kept records of their diagnosis and treatments. Meanwhile, the global agency presented two examples of athletes presenting falsified medical records to escape sanctions for their violations.

Last year, in a joint statement, ADAK and the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) attributed the cover up of doping offenses to “medically-savvy” operations. They also said they found forged documents and references to fictitious doctors in two cases.

ADAK is fighting an uphill battle, especially in a country - like many African countries - where sports administration is riddled with deep corruption practices that allow for things like doping loopholes. That’s coupled with the economic situation in Kenya, where the thousands of dollars earned by long distance athletes who are able to break out globally is life-changing, not only for the athletes themselves, but also for their families and communities even.

Speaking to Associated Press before last August’s World Championships in Budapest, AIU head Brett Clothier said there’s “a temptation to dope that’s like no other part of our sport,” due to the money on offer in lucrative road races around the world. Clothier added that Athletics Kenya’s anti-doping measures have made the quest for a turnaround very difficult, but that it will be “a long ride” with even more failed tests, and more athletes banned.