AMarathon champion Wilson Kipsang responded to his allegations that he had been suspended for four years because of four missed doping controls. He accused the Integrity Unit of the World Athletics Association World Athletics (Aiu) of racism and the attempt to harm Kenyan athletes. He accused the Kenyan association of being behind the lock and of taking vengeance with it for Kipsang’s establishment of a professional body for Kenyan runners.
The Swedish judge Conny Jörneklint, from whom Aiu commissioned the case, justified the ban with three missed tests and an incorrect address within one year. The excuses made by Kipsang and his witnesses, including his wife, proved false in two cases. Once, the 38-year-old Kipsang stated that due to a landslide triggered by a storm, he could not be home in time for a doping control to take place. Another time he was stuck in the traffic jam caused by an overturned truck.
The court was unable to confirm either incident. There were no records of bad weather at the specified location at the specified time, nor had the police recorded a truck accident and a resulting traffic disruption on the day in question. A photo submitted for evidence, according to research, was taken three months after the alleged accident.
“The athlete has acted fraudulently and fraudulently by intentionally providing the Aiu with incorrect and misleading information in an attempt to hinder and delay the investigation into his explanation and / or prevent normal practice, particularly the detection of a missed test,” , says the Aiu judgment. The establishment of the independent integrity unit prevents the association itself – heavily burdened by the corruption case of former president Lamine Diack, which was just being negotiated in Paris – from deciding whether to block or acquit its best athletes. Kipsang can and wants to contest the ban in front of the highest sports court (Cas) in Lausanne.
Kipsang’s Verschwörung theory
“This is not my end,” said Kipsang at a press conference in Iten on Saturday. “Four years is just a number, but this is not normal. (Other) people have doped for years and have been banned for four years. I had an accident, had to go to the hospital, and was then locked up for four years. That’s not fair. I will be back very soon. ”According to reports from Kenya, Kipsang canceled the press conference because he was emotionally overwhelmed. The 38-year-old continues to train twice a day.
Kipsang has won the marathons of London (twice), Berlin, New York and Tokyo and was third in this distance of the London 2012 Olympic Games. When he won Berlin 2013 he set the world record of 2: 03.23 hours at that time . His best time of 2: 03.13, three years later in Berlin (second behind Kenenisa Bekele), is the sixth best marathon time in history.
“How are you going to explain that Kenyan athletes are accused of doping or missed tests every year?” Kipsang asks the Kenyan newspaper “The Standard”. “The decision testifies to a larger conspiracy to ensure that Kenyan athletes are excluded from international competitions.”
According to Kipsang, the Aiu is dominated by whites who have conspired with some officials from the association and the Kenyan anti-doping agency. There was an urgent need to reform the Aiu in order to protect Kenyan athletes from further barriers.
The most prominent recent doping cases in Kenya are the 2016 Olympic marathon champion from Rio, Jemima Sumgong, the winner of the Boston and Chicago marathons, Rita Jeptoo, and the 1500m Olympic champion from Beijing 2008, Asbel Kiprop. Kipsang is the country’s current 56th case, according to the list of worldwide blocked athletes.
Further processes
“As athletes, we are the main stakeholders, but we have no representation in the Aiu,” complains Kipsang. “This makes us vulnerable to unfair, sectarian and malicious decisions.” As President of the Professional Athletes Association of Kenya (Paak), he urged its members not to accept this, but to fight for reform to the bitter end. “Everyone knows that we have a bad relationship with Athletics Kenya, which in turn led to this ban,” continued the runner.
There are some figures in the association who believed that they still had an open account with him, since he founded Paak to represent the cause of the athletes.
The trial against marathon runner Florence Jepkosgei Chepsoi, who tested positive for the cortisone preparation prednisolone, begins in August in Eldoret. She presented a certificate that was intended to prove treatment with the drug and proved to be fake. You face a prison sentence.
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