Nairobi: More Kenyans were caught doping beyond the names released by International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), Athletics Kenya (AK) president Isaiah Kiplagat declared here.
As many as 16 more cases have not been reported because the AK did not track down the suspected athletes to hear their version of the story, reports Xinhua. So far 32 cases of doping were reported and only 16 have been made public from Kenya.
“They are elusive. But we are doing our best to get hold of them. Most of them competed in Peru, Mexico, USA and Europe. A few cases were in Asia. The number is over 200. But only 32 were nabbed,” Kiplagat said Friday. Kenya has come under the spotlight for failing to curb the vice as several of their elite athletes rule the world in long distance races and marathon.
“We punish and warn these athletes not to get caught doping. Out of the 32 cases, this year, we have no clue on 16 cases. We don’t know where to find these athletes,” he said. “There are maybe more cases to come. There are also five cases of transgender and IAAF wants us to determine the gender of these athletes if they are men or women by testing their hormones,” said Kiplagat.
With a huge surplus after declaring their annual financial statements, the federation has not tried to invest the money in sensitising, educating and curbing doping, save for one seminar it held in Eldoret.
But Kiplagat will not be taking the sticks, insisting that even the cases revealed by the Germany TV, where 150 samples from the London Olympics Games, where IAAF is alleged to have been covering-up on doping, are all innocent.
“We can’t reveal the identity of these athletes. That is confidential unless their samples, which have been kept in a bank reveal different pattern of hemoglobin after subsequent tests,” the AK president said. “But many athletes try to clear their system, so that when tested again the banned drugs can’t be found. It is always difficult to trace them.”
