Kenya’s national anti-doping agency ADAK had something to report on Tuesday. ADAK said that 33 Kenyan athletes have given a positive doping sample. Of these, 26 are track and field athletes.
The most famous of the carts is the runner Joshua Belet, who won the Amsterdam marathon last year with his record of 2.04.18. Because he was the 12th fastest marathoner in the world in the season.
ADAK’s testers found several steroids in Belet’s body, which gave the runner a long run. The case is so recent that Belet’s name is not yet on the list of banned athletes from the Athletics Integrity Unit, which is responsible for anti-doping activities in international elite athletics.
However, the carts that have come to light are only the tip of the iceberg. Dozens of new carts are expected this year, and probably another hundred in the next 12 months.
Carts are the sum of a logical chain.
Last year’s actual number
– No one denies that Kenya has a very serious doping problem.
Director of AIU Brett Clothier does not mince words when describing the doping culture of the athletics nation known for its successful endurance runners.
Urheilu interviewed Clothier in May. The reason was the doping scandals of Kenyan track and field athletes, of which there were more than 20 on AIU’s list last year.
When looking at the doping carts of different countries since 2014, Kenya is now the country that produced the most doping carts. According to Tilastopaja, an internationally respected data bank for athletics, a total of 172 Kenyan track and field athletes have been banned from competition in the last ten years. Next come India (164 carts) and Russia (141).
The numbers are from April. Now Kenya’s reading is hovering around 200. And more is coming.
– Last year, almost 70 Kenyan track and field athletes gave a positive doping sample in tests conducted by ADAK, says Clothier.
The majority of the complaints have not yet ended up in AIU’s public database, because there are so many cases to be processed. According to AIU’s database, 22 Kenyans received doping convictions in 2023.
– 29 Kenyans gave a positive sample in AIU’s tests, says Clothier.
When ADAK and AIU’s findings are added together, last year alone almost a hundred Kenyans gave a positive doping sample. So far, 16 Kenyans have been sentenced this year.
Operation supervised by AIU
The number of carts is largely linked to money.
AIU, the independent disciplinary body of the International Association of Athletics Federations, has been up and running since 2017. Since then, hundreds of doping sanctions have been imposed in athletics – whether it was for positive samples or the flight of testers.
Kenya has been monitored by the AIU since the beginning and belongs to the so-called A-category countries. Countries with serious deficiencies in their national anti-doping efforts can enter them.
AIU oversees the absolute pinnacle of athletics. The athletes there belong to the group of athletes tested separately by AIU. About Finnish track and field athletes Oliver Helander, Saga Vanninen, Silja Kosonen, Brother Matti Partanen and Wilma Murto are supervised by AIU.
Since the biggest money in athletics is street running, especially dozens of elite marathons, and Kenya produces the most endurance runners in the world, the country is AIU’s biggest client. Currently, 116 Kenyans are part of AIU’s test group.
A turning point was experienced in 2022, when no less than 38 top Kenyan names took AIU’s tests.
– Because the amount was so staggering, the Kenyan government got involved in anti-doping work seriously. The government has committed to annual additional funding of five million US dollars, which will be directed to anti-doping work. When 25 million dollars is compared to Kenya’s standard of living, the amount would be equivalent to 500 million in France or Britain, says Clothier.
According to Clothier, AIU has so far had the power in the use of money. Most of the resources have been invested in ADAK’s testing, because the root cause of Kenya’s doping problem is structural – the top athletes are closely monitored, while those at the back have been able to use banned substances without fear of being caught.
– Before 2023, ADAK’s test group covered about 30 athletes. Now we move around 300 already. Tests are also performed for those outside this group. In 2023, the number of doping tests conducted by ADAK quadrupled, from less than a thousand to more than 4,000. However, the quality of the testing is the most important thing, says Clothier.
Photos and GPS coordinates
The athletes who belong to the group tested by AIU and ADAK are part of the so-called whereabouts information system. Athletes are obliged to indicate a time window of one hour every day of the year and a place where doping testers can conduct the test if they wish.
Clothier has been there to oversee the rebuilding of Kenya’s anti-doping operations, which has required a lot of research. At the top of Kenyan society, corruption is commonplace, and recording whereabouts is not as easy as in Western countries.
– The majority of the national tops train in northern Kenya, where normal street addresses are not a given. When there is no normal street address, doping testers need photos of the test subjects’ houses, courtyard gates and exact GPS coordinates, says Clothier.
– This work took a lot of time last year, but thanks to it, we can hold Kenyans in the same responsibility for whereabouts information as Western athletes.
AIU and ADAK have also received help from other authorities such as the Kenyan Criminal Police, the intelligence service and customs, as well as national medical management bodies.
With the help of this cooperation, last year it was decided to run the ninth fastest marathon of all time Titus Ekirun doping case. Ekiru was banned from competition for ten years. At the same time, it was revealed that the director of the municipal hospital tried to get Ekiru released from the cart with fake whereabouts information.
– This is an example of the development we hope for. AIU influences the development of Kenya’s anti-doping activities in the Steering Committee, but over time the Kenyans should be able to take responsibility for their own anti-doping work, says Clothier.
When the opening year of the operation (2023) already produced almost a hundred positive doping cases, what do you expect from this year and the following years?
– AIU’s assumption is that the number of positive tests at ADAK will remain high for the next few years.
– I claim that our testing in Kenya is currently the best in the world. With the help of the network we have built, we can get the athlete we want for the test with an hour’s notice. There is no such control anywhere else, says Clothier.
Tuesday’s news about the mass carting of Kenyans is just the prelude.