© Copyright – 2024 – Athletics Illustrated
Peter Eriksson, former Head Coach of British Athletics and Athletics Canada created an online petition. The purpose of the petition is to draw the attention of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), World Athletics (WA) and the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). Eriksson accuses the three governing bodies of failure to prevent widespread doping in the sport of athletics.
The Swede cites Kenyan doping and the world record holder in the marathon Ruth Chepngetich, who ran 2:09:56 during the 2024 Chicago Marathon in October.
The ratification of the record by WA has set the ball rolling for Eriksson to petition for disclosure and increased discipline.
Eriksson wrote, “The ratification on 11 December 2024 of Ruth Chepngetich’s 2:09:56 marathon performance in Chicago on 13 October 2024, which has been greeted with profound scepticism by leading athletics experts because it exceeds the limits of female human potential, is an embodiment and symbol of the abject failure of World Athletics (WA), the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to detect and control rampant doping in international athletics.”
Eriksson wrote that it is a “…dereliction of their duty to protect the interests of and opportunities for clean athletes…”
Four demands were made:
(1) the disclosure and suspension and coaches and agents linked to athletes who test positive for doping,
(2) enhanced testing, particularly in East Africa,
(3) reporting back on the enhanced testing on a half yearly basis and
(4) to immediately suspend all athletes from competition for the balance of a calendar year from any country that has more than 10 of its athletes test positive during the calendar year.
East Africa
While Eriksson did not indicate Kenya specifically, the dominant nation has produced world-leading numbers of wins and world records. Meanwhile, hundreds of their athletes have been banned. The reasons for the bans include tampering and whereabouts program failures. Also, Athlete Biological Passport anomalies, and testing positive out of competition as well as in competition.
Approximately, 300 Kenyan athletes have been banned over the past several years. These numbers would decimate any other national athletics program. The high performances continue as do the doping positives. For example, on Tuesday, December 31, Kenyan Beatrice Chebet broke her own world record by 23 seconds. Meanwhile, on December 20, three more Kenyans were banned.
Chebet and Chepngetich have not tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. However, Eriksson is looking for disclosure and for the governing bodies to improve their efforts.
One athlete Matthew Amoils of Australia commented, “I know and have trained with many elite athletes who are clean and they are robbed of the success and remuneration they should receive by these drug cheaters!”
More is to come of this.
