adminNAIROBI. — A failure by Kenya’s sports bosses to address allegations of doping is casting a shadow over the country’s inspirational rise to global distance running dominance and tarnishing a major source of national pride. Last year the global anti-doping body, Wada, asked Kenya to investigate after an undercover German television journalist alleged that the blood-boosting drug EPO and other doping products were readily available to local athletes.
“Despite assurances, Wada is still waiting patiently for the investigation to take place,” the anti-doping body said last week.
Accused of dragging its heels and adopting a head-in-the-sand approach to the problem, Kenya now risks being singled out for criticism when Wada holds its World Conference on Doping in Sport in Johannesburg from November 12-15.
At the very least it would be damaging for running powerhouse Kenya’s reputation, and at worst could pave the way for punitive action by the International Olympic Committee.
Since January 2012, increased doping tests have netted 17 Kenyan cheats. While none of them have been big-name record breakers, the findings have contradicted previous assertions from Athletics Kenya, one of the country’s most powerful sports bodies, that its runners are spotless. Speaking on the sidelines of last weekend’s Nairobi marathon, a major showcase for the undoubted depth of Kenyan talent, Athletics Kenya’s vice-president David Okeyo insisted that there were only “isolated cases”.
“The impression that Kenyans are winning because they are taking performance enhancing drugs, it is not correct. There are isolated cases . . . and it does not mean that all Kenyans are winning because they are taking drugs,” he said.
“We are very serious on the doping issue . . . we’re not trying to hide anything,” he stressed, saying the sport was far too important for the country to be allowed to be ruined by cheats.
“It is the only sport that sells Kenya worldwide. It’s really marketing Kenya worldwide. Most of our athletes are good ambassadors,” Okeyo said.
But all is not well in Athletics Kenya, which has been locked in an internal power-struggle for much of this year amid a rebellion against its president Isaiah Kiplagat, who has been in charge for 21 years. —AFP.
Athletics Kenya has found itself being unfavourably compared to cycling’s governing body, the UCI, which was accused of turning a blind eye to doping by Lance Armstrong and others in the peloton because it was also charged with promoting and financing the sport -a clear conflict of interest. —AFP.
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