© Copyright – 2024 – Athletics Illustrated
Ruth Chepngetich’s Sunday performance at the Chicago Marathon was paradigm-shifting. For anyone who knows anything about marathon running, it took a second upon first seeing the time to absorb the gravity of it.
The Kenyan finished in two hours nine minutes 57 seconds, taking nearly two minutes off Ethiopian Tigst Assefa’s world record. Last year at the Berlin Marathon when Assefa ran 2:11:53, the reaction was the same, “No way.” Chepngetich’s performance is difficult to explain.
WORLD RECORD ‼️
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) October 13, 2024
🇰🇪's Ruth Chepngetich destroys the marathon world record in Chicago with an incredible 2:09:57 😮💨
That's almost 2 minutes faster than the previous world record 🤯
She finishes in 10th place overall of the @ChiMarathon 👏 pic.twitter.com/ftM1J0j1F1
When Paula Radcliffe of the UK ran 2:15:25 in the 2003 London Marathon, the athletics world collectively said, “No way.” World Athletics (IAAF) attempted to disqualify the record a few years later, citing her being paced by men, but the organization backed off. When Brigid Kosgei ran 2:14:04 in Chicago in 2019 again, the whispers were, “No, this can’t be done.”
When Assefa ran 2:11:53 in Valencia, her shoes were examined. Sure $500 one-wear adidas shoes are going to help, but this athlete had no history to suggest she could even be competitive until 2022. Her 10K road best was 30:52. Her half marathon was good, but still pales in comparison at 1:07:28. The 27-year-old had run 2:15:21 in 2022, which is indeed fast, but a four-minute improvement is a staccato jump that is not natural.
Doping
Big jumps in performance raise concerns about doping. Recently Kenyan Emmaculate Anyango Achol was suspended. She is the second athlete to run the 10K under 29 minutes having gone 28:57 in Valencia in 2023. Only one runner has gone faster and that is fellow Kenyan Agnes Jebet Ngetich with her 28:46 in the same race.
It seems a very long time ago when Ethiopian Almaz Ayana clocked 29:17.45 in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. At that time, in answer to the questions about the performance, she said, “My doping is my training. My doping is Jesus. Otherwise. Nothing. I am crystal clear.”
Chepngetich’s performance
Chepngetich came through the halfway mark in 1:04:16, which is the fifth-fastest women’s half-marathon ever. Then she ran 1:05:41. The second half she ran was the 36th all time. She placed 11th overall. Chepngetich was wearing Nike’s Alphafly 3. Some athletes like Sara Hall and Emma Bates were heard saying that the weather was warm and humid for marathon running. How much faster could she have run with perfect temperatures?
Although the World Athletics scoring tables are not perfect in measuring performance, they are very good. Chepngetich’s performance puts her ahead of Kelvin Kiptum who ran Chicago in 2:00:35 in 2023. Hers is an equivalent of 1:59:37. As an Olympic athlete mentioned yesterday, “This performance is a jumping of the shark in athletics.”
Three-time Olympian and two-time fourth-place finisher in the Athens and Sidney Olympic Marathons Jon Brown wrote on social media, “This performance is criminality pure and simple. Cheating and stealing from other athletes, defrauding events and damaging the viability of elite running events. If anyone wants to see how ridiculous this performance is just compare it to equivalent performances on the iaaf scoring table, 2:09:56 is worth 1339 points.”
Kenya has hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons lately. Doping is a national scourge that threatens a national ban from the sport of athletics.
Approximately 90 athletes in athletics alone are serving or have very recently served doping suspensions.
Agent Rosa has a history
Dr. Gabriele Rosa was once summoned by the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations for questioning, nothing happened, but there was smoke, as they say. The apple does not fall far from the tree. His son, Federico Rosa was the agent for Rita Jeptoo, a three-time Boston Marathon winner and two-time Chicago Marathon winner, who tested positive for EPO in 2014. Jeptoo had her two-year ban doubled after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld an IAAF appeal.
Rosa & Associati is the agency and the organization has a history with Kenyan athletes who have been caught doping. Whether the agency is complicit is unknown. Athletes in Kenya do not need assistance to buy performance-enhancing drugs. They are openly available at streetside pharmacies without a prescription.
However, Jeptoo is not the only Rosa & Associati athlete to be suspended for doping. Jemima Sumgong is another. Sumgong is currently serving an eight-year ban (until 2027) after she tested positive for EPO, fabricated her medical records and lied about her whereabouts after the positive test. Her career is over, but she could probably care less after collecting a fortune in prize money.
The list is long of Rosa & Associati athletes who have been suspended includes Mathew Kisorio, Agatha Jeruto, Purity Rionoripo, Elija Kiprono Boit, Sarah Chepchirchir, and Visiline Jepkesho. The latter two are marathon champions. Middle-distance great Asbel Kiprop was banned for four years. He became despondent and publicly asked the police to arrest him before he harmed himself with their weapons, as he was a police officer at the time.
Rosa & Associati and their coach Claudio Berardelli have been investigated at least twice. Kenya charged them but then dropped the case against Rosa for allegedly aiding and abetting Jeptoo. They did not have enough evidence.
Whether there is a case to be had, the fact is Kenyans are doping full-scale on their own. The athletes are impoverished and will race and dope at all levels to earn precious prize money, sponsorships and rewards for records achieved.
In a recent interview with Olympics.com, former world record holder Eliud Kipchoge said, “It’s really unfortunate that young girls and boys want shortcuts to move to the next life. We lack morals,” he said. “We lack mentors, people who show it the way it should be done. Most people are talking about money. We lack the legends of sport because what we have is 80-90% of the runners who want to get money and build a big house, buy a big car, enjoy life,” he said. “It should be about putting your mind on becoming a legend, running, breaking world records, and chasing longevity in your life.”
Tegla Loroupe
Former two-time world record holder Tegla Loroupe told the publication Insidethegames. “I don’t blame our coaches, these athletes are being represented by foreigners.
“I think the Government have to be very concerned about this because it’s a shame for the country and also for our athletes who are naive, they don’t know much about the issue of drugs.
“You people from Western world, you know, and the small kids know what’s going on.
“Some of us, they don’t know anything about it.
“Our kids have been subjected, why?
“Because foreigners, they see the athletes from Kenya as a source of income and therefore they can do anything.”
She said this 10 years ago. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Olympic Committee, and World Athletics have had every opportunity to ban Athletics Kenya, but they have not done so.
The country has been exposed in documentaries, dozens of average, competitive and world-class athletes have been suspended, and implicated and even some suspicious deaths have occurred. World Athletics has given $5 million USD to better manage the domestic doping issue. WADA has placed doping control officers in the country and has a WADA-approved testing lab in place. Yet, Kenya reduced their own budget on the matter, basically decimating any opportunity to test athletes. Going into the Paris Olympics, it is alleged that few to no athletes were tested.
When will WADA, and World Athletics put their hands up and consider Kenya a country complicit and needing to be suspended so that they may clean house? Does Chepngetich need to test positive and receive a four-year ban for this to happen? If so, does that mean that somehow magically, Chepngetich will not test positive [insert wink, here?].
When is enough, enough?
Marathon performances of note
Top-10 all-time. Seven of ten have been run in 2023 and 2024. One in 2022 and 2019 while Radcliffe’s performance from 2003 continues to slip into the abyss.
Ruth Chepngetich (Kenya) 2:09:56 — Chicago, 2024
Tigist Assefa (Ethiopia) 2:11:53 — Berlin, 2023
Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) 2:13:44 — Chicago, 2023
Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) 2:14:04 — Chicago, 2019
Amane Beriso (Ethiopia) 2:14:58 — Valencia, 2022
Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain) 2:15:25 — London, 2003
Worknesh Degefa (Ethiopia) 2:15:51 — Valencia, 2023
Sutume Kebede (Ethiopia) 2:15:55 — Tokyo, 2024
Tigist Ketema (Ethiopia) 2:16:07 — Dubai, 2024
Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya) 2:16:14 — Tokyo, 2024
