- She had been previously provisionally suspended pending hearings
- She was charged with presence of Triamcinolone Acetonide and tampering
- Former Paris Marathon champion Rionoripo also banned
High profile athletes Diana Kipyokei and Purity Rionoripo are the latest Kenyans to be slapped with bans by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) following positive doping tests.
Kipyokei has been slapped with a six-year ban after her sample tested positive for Triamcinolone Acetonide which is a banned substance under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and an extra charge of tampering.
She has also been stripped of her Boston Marathon title which she won in 2021. Her urine sample, provided just after winning the Boston title, returned the positive testes.
Triamcinolone acetonide is a Prohibited Substance under the WADA 2021 Prohibited List. It is a Specified Substance prohibited In-Competition when administered by oral, intravenous, intramuscular or rectal route.
She was informed of the positive test on November 8, four days after her sample returned a positive test.
Given injection by doctor in Eldoret
According to her explanation, she visited a doctor in Eldoret after feeling pain in her Achilles tendon as she trained for the Boston Marathon. She said she did not inform her representative of the move to get the injection and her injury as she feared she might be withdrawn from the Boston Marathon.
She however could not provide documents to back her explanation. Consequently, the AIU informed her that her explanation was insufficient.
She was fiven further room to explain how the banned substance was administered, but still, the AIU was not pleased with the explanation and a notice of charge was issued.
On 17 December 2021, the Athlete informed the AIU that she wanted to discuss an admission to the Anti-Doping Rule Violations “without knowledge of the substance used”. She was subsequently interviewed on February 8.
She stated that she was referred to the doctor, a Mr Njenga, by an unknown female who she met on the roadside, and provided documents to back up her claims.
ADAK give assistance to AIU to prove documents
On 29 March, the AIU requested the assistance of the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) to determine the veracity and authenticity of the Medical Documents submitted by the Athlete via the Representative that referred to apparent medical treatment at the Uasin Gishu County Hospital.
On 14 April, ADAK forwarded the Hospital’s formal response to the AIU, which confirmed
That the Athlete did not visit the Hospital on 5 June, 14 July or 3 August 2021, and that the intramuscular triamcinolone injection referred to on 3 August 2021 was not administered at the Hospital.
The Hospital further stated that the Medical Documents submitted to the AIU were not issued by the Hospital and that the AIU should treat the Medical Documents as falsified or not authentic.
Upon being further interviewed, the athlete admitted that the information on the documents were untrue and disclosed she had paid the Dr. Njenga Sh20,000 to prepare the documents.
The AIU hence charged her for the presence of the banned substance which attracted a four-year ban and a further two years were added for the charge of tampering, due to the admission of bringing falsified information.
Rionoripo also faces similar trajectory
Meanwhile, Rionoripo, the 2017 Paris Marathon champion was charged with or the presence/use of a Prohibited Substance (Furosemide) and for Tampering with any part of Doping Control by an Athlete.
Just like Kipyokei, she said she had taken the drugs to treat an injury. She explained that she visited a hospital to treat her injury, and the AIU asked ADAK to verify the documents. Four of them were found to have been correct.
However, the Hospital also confirmed that, although the Athlete had been prescribed ETR 90mg and Dynapar QPS on 19 May 2022, she had not been prescribed with Lasix on that date and that the Prescription submitted to the AIU had been manipulated to include a reference to Lasix.
She however later on returned an admission form after her second interview. The admission saw her have a year reduced from the initial six-year ban.
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