How Kenyan athletes keep their accolades despite doping bans

Under World Athletics, Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules, an athlete’s results are only disqualified from the date a proven violation occurred — usually the day a positive sample was taken or doping was detected — unless evidence shows they doped earlier.

This means performances achieved before that period can legally stand. Similarly, AIU, an independent integrity arm of World Athletics, can be lenient with an athlete who admits guilt early or helps investigators, reducing both the sanction period and the results affected.

In recent years, several Kenyan athletes have found themselves banned but not completely stripped of glory — a technicality of timing and evidence that often surprises fans.

AIU issued Ruth Chepngetich with a Notice of Charge seeking a four-year sanction on 22 August but the impeding ban was then reduced by a year due to early admission as she responded withing 20 days admitting using banned substance.

Chepngetich, the two-time Chicago Marathon winner, despite receiving a three-year ban will keep all her accolades including her world record time of two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds in Chicago in October last year.

Chepngetich, the Rosa Associati athlete, was provisionally suspended in July following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) – a banned diuretic used commonly as a masking agent – on 14 March. Since her case dates back to March this year all her accolades before that still stand.

However, the AIU will continue to investigate evidence from Chepngetich’s phone which it found indicate “a reasonable suspicion that her positive test may have been intentional” – including messages dating back to 2022.

Brett Clothier, head of the AIU, said: “The case regarding the positive test for HCTZ has been resolved, but the AIU will continue to investigate the suspicious material recovered from Chepngetich’s phone to determine if any other violations have occurred.”

Another case of retained titles is of Wilson Kipsang, the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and former marathon world record holder, was banned for four years in 2020 — not for using drugs but for whereabouts failures and tampering with testing procedures. Because there was no positive test or proven doping period, his earlier titles and medals were untouched.

World Athletics said between April 2018 and May 2019 the two time London Marathon winner, had missed four “whereabouts appointments”.

Three such failures within 12 months leads to an automatic ban. Kipsang said he missed a test in May 2019 because of a traffic accident and provided a photo of the crash, but that was found to be from August 2019. The World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal said it had banned the Kenyan with effect from 10 January for “whereabouts failures and tampering by providing false evidence and witness testimony”.

The Athletics Integrity Unit statement said “evidence demonstrates overwhelmingly that the athlete was engaged in tampering or attempted tampering in breach of the IAAF rules”.

Having started his athletics career in 2016, Ferdinand Omanyala served a 14-month doping ban in 2017 after returning a positive drugs test for a banned substance, which he said was in a painkiller he took. After serving his ban, he returned stronger, setting national and continental records.

Omanyala, a former rugby player now holds the African and national 100m record of 9.77 set at the Kip Keino Classic Meeting in Nairobi in 2021, the African 150m record of 14.70 set in USA in May and the 60m national record of 6.51s. He is a Commonwealth champion from 2022.

In 2022 Lilian Kasait was banned for 10 months after testing positive for letrozole a hormone therapy drug. Her earlier achievements such as the world Under-18 3,000m title were unaffected as the ban started from 20 January that year.

“Taking into consideration how promptly the athlete admitted the anti-doping rule violations upon notification, the parties agree that the period of ineligibility shall be backdated,” the AIU said in a statement.