Copyright – 2021 – Athletics Illustrated
Distance runner Florence Jepkosgei Chepsoi is the first Kenyan athlete to be found guilty in criminal court. She has received a one-year sentence of community service for faking documents as part of her defense to charges of doping. The conviction was announced by the Anti-Doping Association of Kenya (ADAK) on Friday in Eldoret, Kenya.
During the past few years more than 65 Kenyan athletes have been suspended for doping-related charges. This is the most of any country except for Russia, which is continuing to service a blanked ban for organized systematic doping.
How ADAK arrived at the sentence
The 36-year-old was originally suspended for two years in 2017 for using the performance-enhancing drug Prednisolone.
She submitted false medical records that she claimed were from the Uasin Gishu Hospital.
“The Uasin Gishu district hospital confirmed that those medical documents had been forged and that the athlete had not been treated at the said hospital,” ADAK said in a statement.
Chepsoi owns a marathon personal best of 2:29:25 from 2011. The year prior she ran a 1:10:28 half-marathon in Prague and finished second at the 2019 Jakarta Marathon.
The Kenyan Sports Minister Amina Mohamed announced in 2019 that the ministry is currently working on legislation to make doping in sport a criminal offense worthy of potential jail time.
Since 2004, approximately 200 Kenyan athletes have tested positive.
