Atheltics Kenya Boss Warns Athletes There's Nowhere To Run Amid Doping War

NAIROBI, Kenya- Athletics Kenya chief Lt. Gen (Rtd) Jackson Tuwei warned athletes that they have nowhere to hide in the war against doping, just a few days after 2017 London Marathon winner Daniel Wanjiru was caught up in the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) cheat-net.

Wanjiru became the fourth Kenyan to be suspended this year after anomalies were found on his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).

“I want to tell the athletes that there is nowhere to hide with the systems put in place. Wherever you go or even if you are retired, the records will always be there and one day, you will be caught,” Tuwei said on Friday.

Other athletes who have already been suspended by the AIU this year are former marathon World Record holder Wilson Kipsang who was suspended for failure to declare whereabouts, same as Alfred Kipketer.

Kenneth Kiprop was also suspended because of the presence of terbutaline in his samples.

“We have had this problem of athletes failing to correctly state their whereabouts for testing and WADA are very strict with this. If you say you will be at Point A at this time, you have to be there. 

"If you miss out three times, then a suspension follows because they will think you are hiding something,” Tuwei continued.

Meanwhile, he said Athletics Kenya (AK) is working closely with the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya to ensure they continue educating athletes on the dangers of doping and see that Kenya completely weeds out the shameful vice.

Kenya is setting up plans to criminalize doping and if this goes through, any athlete found guilty of doping will be jailed and among some of the high-profile names who have been banned by the AIU include Asbel Kiprop, Jemimah Sumgong and Rita Jeptoo.

“We have talked about this for long and it has brought shame to our country. We have tried our level best to tell our athletes that this is a shameful act. 

"Those drugs have an adverse effect on the health of the athlete. It not only soils the name of the country, but the future of the athlete as well,” Tuwei further explained.