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The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) the organizers of several events in the Boston area including the Boston Marathon is offering prize money to athletes who have been affected by dopers. This altruistic deed is noteworthy and thoughtful, however, how is it determined that an athlete claiming prize money was clean at the time.
Recently, an Ethiopian athlete was banned, she owns a 10K personal best of a modest 35:09. Also, another athlete from East Africa was recently suspended having just a 2:34 marathon best. It is not just the winners and medallists who are doping.
The Boston Athletic Association @BAA has announced their plans to issue voluntary payments to athletes adversely affected by doping offenses at events like the Boston Marathon.
— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) December 6, 2024
💭 What are your thoughts on this initiative? 1/2 #RoadRunning #RunWithRespect #CleanAthlete pic.twitter.com/0add5Qr8Gy
Rita Cheptoo from Kenya won many races during her career, including the Boston Marathon. She never repaid back her prize and record-setting funds received from the races. In May 2014, the CBS wrote, “Jeptoo was given $75,000 for winning the race and an extra $25,000 for setting the course record. The BAA says they never got it back from her.
“She took my chance. I lose so many things,” Deba, originally from Ethiopia, told CBS New York last month. “I thought everything is to change after I heard the news, but nothing.”
It is alleged that while Russian cheater Liliya Shobukhova was ordered to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars of prize money from winning several major marathon, she hasn’t. She has been court ordered and articles from 2014 to 2016 reported that she was court ordered. There is no indication that she repayed.
If upheld, her athlete biological passport finding nullifies her results dating back to 2009, including the 2:18:20 she ran to win the 2012 Chicago marathon. That put her second on the all-time list behind Paula Radcliffe. She received two $500,000 cheques for winning the World Marathon Majors series in 2009 -2010 and then 2010 – 2011. She also won money from Chicago and London, for a total of $1.4 million USD.
The B.A.A. statement reads, “While the multi-step process to reclaim and redistribute prize money has been complex and time-consuming for all involved, we have worked — and continue to work — diligently towards a resolution that supports clean athletes while still holding all athletes accountable,” said Jack Fleming, President and CEO of the B.A.A. “Athletes will receive the prize money they rightfully earned at our races with these payments.”
It is a known fact that reclaiming money can be difficult. If the program is a success, then perhaps the B.A.A. will lead the way with this novel idea in a broadly accepted program to re-claim money won by cheaters and redistribute it to those who were cheated. Again who is determined to be clean? Additionally, if money is redistributed to cheaters, is the exercise repeated. Are there funds for this level of policing and investigation?
“We are supporting athletes who competed in our events, and who believed they would be rewarded for their top finishing place,” said Fleming. “We are doing what we can to ensure fair competition among athletes, and we will always seek to play host to the fairest of playing fields at all of our events.”
The B.A.A. began offering prize money in 1996. Until then, it was the only major marathon not offering prize money.
