AIU to help Kenya in doping fight with more tests

• AIU CEO Brett Clothier has been on a tour of Kenya
• He met with Sports Principal Secretary Jonathan Mueke
• AIU will assist Kenya with more testing

The Athletics Integrity Unit will assist Kenya conduct more tests, as the fight to curb doping in the country steps up. The government has already committed 25 million dollars over five years to finance the fight against the vice, which has threatened to see Kenya banned from international events.

The last 12 months have seen more than 20 Kenyans sanctioned while in total, 67athletes have been sanctioned over the last five years.

“One thing that everyone should be aware of is that with more testing, more cases will be reported, but that doesn’t mean more doping. That is what is coming but it is the pathway to address this problem once and for all,” Clothier said after a meeting with PS Mueke.

Fact finding trip to Kenya 

Clothier has been on a week-long factfinding trip to Kenya, said athletes needed to brace themselves for tougher action against drug-taking in the sport.

“What you will see over the coming months is big changes in the anti-doping landscape. First of all there will a lot more testing, especially conducted by the Anti-Doping Association of Kenya, and a lot more resources being put into investigations and intelligence gathering about the real source of the doping,” said the AIU boss, who was accompanied by the ADAK CEO Sarah Shibutse.

The AIU has joined a broader government push to fight drug-taking in sport which also involves Athletics Kenya, police and other law enforcement bodies.

Clothier said some of the suspended athletes are refusing to say who supplied the banned substances because of fears for their security.

Criminals involved 

“The situation we have here is that it’s a crime. There are criminals involved. There’s lots of money to be made and people who think they can take advantage and make money from the athlete, are criminals, and it can be a dangerous business,” he further added.

Clothier last week visited the athletics rich North Rift region where he held meetings with athletes, coaches and support personell in a bid to unearth the challenges they face in the doping scourge.

Clothier had also held talks with National Olympic Committee of Kenya officials, led by president Paul Tergat.

Terga supremo was optimistic  that recent efforts from the Government in conjunction with Athletics Kenya to collaborate very closely with the AIU was bound to bear fruit and return the country to its former athletics glory.

While welcoming the AIU head, Tergat extended  his appreciation to the World Athletics Integrity unit body for the good work AIU it is doing towards upholding best practices in the sport, especially on eradication of doping. He said the decision to work jointly towards the goal of integrity in sports demonstrated AIU as a friend of Kenya.

Fight for all of us 

“This fight is for all of us to stand together and attack it from all fronts in all its manifestations and as NOCK, we are in full support of all initiatives to achieve fair play on the competition field”, Tergat observed.

Brett expressed AIU’s gratitude of the Kenyan authorities’ evident initiatives to nab the problem in the bud, including the government’s additional budgetary investment to support the fight against doping.

The breakfast meeting was also attended by the Athletics Kenya Chairman of anti doping and Executive Member, Barnaba Korir and Charlotte Kurgoy, who heads anti doping at AK.