Kenya might be suspended from ALL Athletics activities tomorrow (Friday, 25) by the World Athletics (WA) and Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) due to that rampant doping cases that have engulfed the country this year by Kenyan runners.
Our source a senior official at Athletics Kenya, on condition of anonymity request told Athletics.co.ke, “From where I seat and the information am getting directly from AIU top officials, it’s a done case.” We are at their mercies as from now and we should prepare ourselves for the worse which is being suspended for a minimum of two years or a maximum of three years, so that we can put our house in order,” he said.
The senior official said that there are many top elite athletes that AIU is on their radar and soon they will be unmasked and this will be the end of their running careers.
“Many athletes and the country at large will be affected and it will be an expensive affair that will cost jobs and many lives will be affected directly and indirectly,” he said.
This year alone the country has had 17 athletes sanctioned by AIU for a range of doping violations with eight athletes currently on provisional suspensions, with the outcomes of their cases pending.
The newly appointed cabinet secretary for Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts, Ababu Namwamba, has been vocal on the intentions that government is going to take in the fight against the doping menace, “We are going to criminalise doping to levels you cannot imagine. We are going to be very, very harsh.
Ten Kenya athletes have tested positive since last year, for a banned substance called triamcinolone Acetonide, while two others from other nations tested positive for the same substance.
“It is a synthetic corticosteroid medication administered through injection into joints to treat various joint conditions. It is also used topically to treat various skin conditions, such as relieving the discomfort of mouth sores,” he said.
The late Athletics Kenya president Isaiah Kiplagat in 2015, suspended Rosa Associati management stable run by Dr. Gabrielle Rosa and Gerard Van de Veen of Volare Sports.
Athletes who have been banned at Rosa stable include, three-time Boston marathon winner Rita Jeptoo, two-time world champion Asbel Kiprop and the 2016 Olympic marathon champion Jemima Sumgong while at Volare Sports include Wilson Kipsang.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) now World Athletics included the distance-running superpower on a list of nations most at risk of doping in July 2018.
It came as part of new regulations by the WA Council put more responsibility on National Federations to deal with the problem.
Kenya is among four countries included in Category A – member federations the World Athletics believe are most likely to have doping problems – along with Ethiopia, Belarus, hosts of next year’s European Games, and Ukraine.
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