Kenyan, Esther Gitahi, who earned a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Alabama and competed for the Roll Tide team, claimed that she did not know what EPO is.
She claimed that she was diagnosed with thalassemia. She also claimed that she was not diagnosed with thalassemia, but was simply told that she had it without undergoing any blood tests. Gitahi claimed that because she did not have medical insurance in the US, she went back to Kenya for treatment for symptoms of lethargy, fatigue and joint pain. It was in Kenya where she was apparently told that she had thalassemia.
The practitioner she supposedly saw in Kenya allegedly told her that EPO is the correct prescription for thalassemia.
American medical professionals said that EPO would be inappropriate for thalassemia if she indeed has it.
The AIU press release indicates that she is 26 years old. The University of Alabama profile indicates that her birthday is June 28, 1996, so according to the school, she is currently age 29.
Thalassemia: Diagnosis, cause, and cure
Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder. It causes the body to produce less hemoglobin and or abnormal hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. Thalassemia can lead to anemia, causing weakness and fatigue. The severity of the condition depends on how many genes are affected and can range from mild, with no symptoms, to severe.
There is no easy cure for thalassemia. To solve the malady, a patient may need blood transfusions, chelation therapy, and folic acid supplements. For severe cases, a stem cell or bone marrow transplant from a matched donor can be a cure. This is a high-risk procedure with limited availability.
Thalassemia is diagnosed through a combination of blood tests, including a complete blood count (CBC), hemoglobin analysis (like electrophoresis or HPLC), and genetic testing to look for specific gene mutations. Doctors also rule out other conditions like iron deficiency by checking iron levels and examining a peripheral blood smear for characteristic red blood cell abnormalities.
Gitahi apparently was not properly diagnosed through the above procedures.
The suspension
Gitahi was prescribed EPO and did not seek a Therapeutic Use Exemption or TUE. Ultimately, it is up to the athlete to know what they are putting into their body and to inform their respective anti-doping agency.
Gitahi was tested in competition at the 2024 B.A.A. Boston 5K on April 13, 2024, where her sample tested positive for Erythropoietin (EPO)
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) suspended the athlete for four years, which is appealable only to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Performances from July 1, 2023, to August 6, 2024, are null. Credit will be provided for time served from August 6, 2024.
On her LinkedIn profile, she wrote, “As a Kenyan, our health system has a great deal to work on, so I focused on nursing when I started studying in Alabama and wanted to help people. In the course of my studies, my career goal in nursing changed. I thought about Public Health because it would allow me to monitor the global health of people. I have volunteered in non-profit organizations back in Kenya, helping individuals living in slums to combat malaria and typhoid. As a volunteer in New Mexico, I worked with the Lee Regional Hospital taking care of the old. It takes a special person to fill in all the nurse roles, but I tried my best to be a friend, a trusted adviser, and a confidant to some patients I took care of and interacted with.”
It is unlikely, toward impossible, for an elite athlete from Kenya, educated in the US in the medical health system, to not know of or have heard of EPO and that it is a banned performance-enhancing drug (PED). Hundreds of Kenyans have tested positive for the PED, and it is common knowledge, even among non-elite athletes.
Gitahi holds a 3000 metre personal best of 8:46.51. She ran a road 5 km in 15:08, 5000m in 15:10.70 and an indoor 5000m in 15:35.49, all during the 2024 season, except for the indoor event. The 5000m indoors PB is from 2022.
