adminNAIROBI. — The head of Kenya’s athletics governing body said that a crisis over doping among the East African nation’s fabled distance runners was “as bad as HIV/Aids”.
Athletics Kenya president Isaiah Kiplagat, who has been fending off allegations of failing to take the issue seriously, promised to put in place stringent domestic anti-doping test procedures.
The crisis in Kenyan sports follows the disgrace of top female marathoner Rita Jeptoo, a two-time Chicago and Boston winner who was caught using the blood-boosting drug EPO.
“This doping issue is just as bad as Aids. This will be a serious elaborate exercise. We will roll out an educative programme such as the one Kenya launched when HIV/Aids was first detected,” Kiplagat told reporters.
“We plan to have our own doping control officers to nab the athletes locally,” he said, adding that Athletics Kenya would partner the newly launched Anti-doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) to conduct random in-competition and out-of-competition testing. — AFP.
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