© Copyright – 2024 – Athletics Illustrated
Kenyan marathon runner, Kemei Elias Kiprono, has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), for testing positive for the banned performance-enhancing drug, Trimetazidine.
“The AIU has provisionally suspended Kemei Elias Kiprono (Kenya) for the Presence/Use of a Prohibited Substance (Trimetazidine),” an AIU release read.
CLOTHIER MEETS KENYAN ATHLETES AND ENTOURAGE
— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) March 29, 2023
AIU Head Brett Clothier spoke to the athletics community in Kapsabet (Nandi County) in Kenya today about plans to fight the doping crisis in Kenyan athletics. pic.twitter.com/vdPpKMcmsD
The 26-year-old 2:16:05 marathoner’s suspension keeps him out of the sport until a final decision is reached at a hearing conducted under the World Athletics Anti-Doping rules or the Integrity Code of Conduct.
His last race was the Lagos Marathon in February 2024.
According to the Anti-Doping Agency, in 2024 alone, there are 17 provisionally suspended Kenyan athletes, one each in basketball, rugby, and bodybuilding. Fourteen from the sport of athletics. An additional four cases are pending criminal conviction. Forty-three more have been suspended during 2023 and 2024. According to the AIU’s global list of suspended athletes a grand sum of 81 Kenyans have been banned for evading testers, falsifying documents, testing positive, and Athlete Biological Passport abnormalities.
According to Citizen TV Kenya 138 Kenyan athletes were suspended between 2004 and 2018.
Remarkably, India and Russia are currently tied with the lead in the hall of shame with 86 currently suspended athletes. Russia is the only country to serve a national ban due to systematic doping.
){kind=link}