Asbel Kiprop has issued a statement in response to the reports that emerged on Wednesday (May 2) of a failed out-of-competition drugs test.

In the statement published on Facebook on Wednesday, the three-time world champion denies he has ever taken any banned substance, saying he has remained faithful to his anti-doping convictions and would be the “the last person to commit such an atrocious un-sports like thing”.

The full statement is detailed below where Kiprop claims he was notified the day before that a doping test would take place, that he was extorted by Doping Control Officers, and he additionally alleges he was offered an IAAF ambassadorial role if he admitted to doping.

My Statement / Asbel Kiprop / 3rd May 2018 / Notice of sample collection

1. I have noted the main media reports alleging that I have doped. I have also noted social media comments on the allegation. I vehemently deny any doping. I have remained faithful to my anti-doping convictions and I will be the last person to commit such an atrocious un-sports like thing. I recall that in 2016 I supported conviction of people guilty of doping. I have built for myself a clean sports career since 2007 and I cannot throw it away with such an act.

2. I am reluctantly responding to the main media and social media comments for lack of choice. The allegations are still under investigation and inquiry and I wish the comments could have awaited its finalization. I however note the overwhelming interest from all and sundry to know my reaction to the allegation. I also note that if I do not react persons of less than good will might treat it as true, and pass judgment.

3. On 26th November 2017 I was notified by way of telephone call from an anti-doping agent, Mr. Simon Karugu “Mburu” to be available for doping test on 27th November 2017 at my disclosed whereabouts, by then Iten. I availed myself. Messers Paul Scott and Simon Karugu “Mburu” came into the house alone being Doping Control Officers. I know them from previous samplings. They arrived when I was still sleeping at 7.50am to collect the urine sample, and left slightly past 8.20am after the urine sample was sealed. I declared my flu medication when the sample was being taken. I was in the house with a house-mate, a Mr. Kevin.

4. It is to be noted that under World Anti-Doping Rules I was not supposed to be given notice of the intended visit to collect the sample, especially where the test is “out of competition” like this one.

5. The sample was collected when I was not in any competition. This sampling is called “out-of-competition”. My next and planned competition was to be on 4th May 2018 in Doha Qatar.

6. If I had wanted to dope then it would be less than clever to dope 7 months (in November 2017) long before my planned competition [in May 2018], when I would need the boost.

7. Further if I had any dope substance in my system then I would not make myself available for the sampling on 27th November 2017 having been given notice on 26th November 2017 of the intended visit for the sample collection. I could choose to miss the collection without any consequences. Consequences for missing sampling meeting arise only after missing 3 times. I had not missed previously.

8. I am told EPO is put into the body using injection. The last time I had an injection was in 2014 when I was given a yellow fever vaccination before travelling to Bahamas for a competition.

Monetary extortion

9. After the Doping Control Officers [Mr. Paul Scott and Mr. Simon Karugu “Mburu”] arrived at 7.50am, and after I had given them the urine sample Mr. Simon Karugu “Mburu” asked [for the first time in their visits] if I could give them some money. He did not specify how much they needed. At 8.11am I forwarded to them money through Mr. Simon Karugu “Mburu”’s phone using M-Pesa. As a police officer I found it wise to send by M-Pesa for record. I did not at the time expect that the request for the money had anything to do with the sample. At that time I did not see the money as inducement or bribe for anything. I gave it in good faith thinking they may have some need known to them. In retrospect I now clearly see the money as having a relation with the sample collected on that date, and even the irregular advance notice I was given. Mr. Simon Karugu “Mburu” acknowledged verbally and audibly receiving the M-pesa money while he was seated next to Mr. Paul Scott.

10. I remain perplexed on how my innocent sample could turn positive on the only time when money was extorted from me. It is not beyond my suspicion that my sample turned positive because I might have remitted less money than I was expected to remit.

11. After I had supplied the required urine into initial vessel I left the sample on the table where Paul Scott and Simon karugu “Mburu” were seated to go to my bedroom to look for cash money upon their request. However I subsequently decided to use M-Pesa. When I went to my bedroom to collect the cash I left the urine sample, in the plastic vessel in the sitting room, where as stated above, messers Paul Scott and Mr. Simon Karugu were seated with the samples. The M-Pesa was delivered when I was still at the bedroom.

12. I don’t know if my sample was interfered with while I was at the bedroom.

13. I don’t know if the amount I remitted could have been less than what was expected from me, and if it caused annoyance that may have resulted in the contamination of the sample.

14. After I came out of the bedroom proceeded to spilt my urine sample into 2 other containers [sample “A” and sample “B”] then sealed at 8.20am. Both Doping Officers left shortly after sealing the sample at 8.20am. They left probably around 8.30am.

15. The money I was asked for was remitted 9 minutes [at 8.11am] before the samples were sealed [at 8.20am]. I have been asked to admit and be rewarded with ambassadorial role.

16. When I was told for the 1st time that my sample turned positive on 3rd February 2018 [4 months after sample collection on 27th November 2017] I was extremely shocked. I was however very confident the mistake alleging I doped would be noted and I would be cleared. The nightmare has continued. However my faith in God, my trust in the goodness of humanity, and my clear conscience continue to sustain me. I do not seek any favors on the matter. I only yearn for fairness and justice beyond all schemes, politics, and machinations. I insist I am innocent even if I am forsaken.

17. I was told the process of investigation and evaluating the question of whether or not there was any dope in my sample would be confidential. I have seen one of the media outlet’s reference to AIU. I am therefore surprised at how the handlers of the issue have let it out to the main media and social media and to subject me to mob trial with a narrative designed to reflect me as guilty without my side of the story being reflected including all the above I have explained.

18. I have been asked to admit that I doped so that I would be made an ambassador of I.A.A.F on anti-doping. I have refused, as this is not only untrue but also a fraud. I do not need absolution on the allegations.

19. I have also noted individuals I held in the highest esteem lie outrightly about what they did and what they saw. This includes as to [how many people came into my house on 27th November 2017, the money received, that I was not given advance notice, about the open sample left in their care, about a 3rd party holding the lid to the sample’s vessel, where I was in the morning of the collection of the sample etc]. Others have suppressed clear facts very unfortunately.

20. I pray to be given the benefit of doubt even as I am cast into this lonely isolation. I know it may be impossible to defend myself from any accuser who has made up his mind and who would view my protestations as a mere denial. I however pray that all and sundry of good-will do not hasten to summarily make negative assumptions and judgment about me. I grave to be seen for who I am, what I have stood for and what I represent. However for the determined, before God and before man, I am innocent. I did not dope. I do not labour under the weight of the shame of doping.

ASBEL KIPROP
Cc:
Kigen Katwa K.J- Please note.

RELATED: ‘Don’t add one and one together and get two thousand doping Kenyans’

The post Asbel Kiprop responds to doping reports appeared first on Fast Running.

I was just settling down on Wednesday night to watch my football team, Liverpool, in their biggest match for 10 years, when news came through on my phone that former Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop had been reportedly busted for using EPO.

Next came the barrage on Twitter and Facebook (I dared not look on the letsrun.com message boards) … “and we thought they were just genetically faster”, “and they say the secret is ugali”, “Kenya should be banned from all international competitions”.

I don’t remember all this associated guilt by nationality when Nigel Levine failed a drugs test a few months ago. Nobody looked at Callum Hawkins or Katarina Johnson-Thompson any differently as a result, and why should they? They didn’t train with Levine, they probably didn’t know him, they may never even have spoken to him. Not all Americans are considered dopers because of Justin Gatlin either.

But that is the leap that is instantly taken after a doping violation in Kenya: hey, look, the myth has been busted, they’re all doping, Kenyan dominance was a sham all along.

I spent six months living in training camps with the top Kenyan athletes in 2011 while researching my book Running with the Kenyans. They don’t all live in the same house, or follow the same training routine or share the same coaches, doctors and physios.

Just like Hawkins, Johnson-Thompson and the rest of the British athletes, and like the rest of the world, Kenya is a diverse and complex place, where some people and groups will bend and break the rules in an effort to be successful, and others will try to make it through talent and honest graft.

When you spend time there, you see that some training camps welcome you in to drink tea and train with them, they hide nothing, while others operate behind closed doors. Some coaches arouse local suspicions, some doctors are said to be behind the problems. On the other side of the coin, some athletes and coaches are held in high esteem and are seen as beyond reproach by their running community.

Photo: Project Africa Athletics

The fact that the big-name Kenyans caught or reportedly caught doping – Matthew Kisorio, Rita Jeptoo, Jemima Sumgong, Asbel Kiprop – all have connections to the same management group should be more significant than the fact they’re all Kenyan.

It’s dangerous to look too closely at the reasons why we see Kenya – and in fact any developing country – differently, why we treat it and the athletes there as one homogeneous block. It’s the same thing that leads people to see the world cross-country championships as boring because it’s “a procession of east Africans” (a phrase I’ve read many times). In the good old days, it was a procession of Europeans, but nobody complained then.

RELATED: Wisdom from Africa: celebrating more than a race win

The problem with defending Kenyans like this is that you get accused of denying or apologising for doping. I’m not doing that. Doping in Kenya undoubtedly exists, and there is evidence that it is widespread. The figure usually quoted is 40 offences between 2011 and 2016 – about eight a year.

Even one is too many, of course, though it is worth noting that Kenya has many hundreds of athletes competing in IAAF events each year. Percentage-wise, the number doping is similar to other nations that don’t provoke any collective condemnation.

One key distinction between Kenya and the west is the poor testing facilities and procedures there. For a few years, Kenya was ruled non-compliant by the world anti-doping agency WADA, although since 2016 it has been compliant. And then, of course, you have the huge incentives to win – in Kenya running is a way out of poverty – and the fierce competition to even get into races, that may encourage some to turn to drugs. It all adds up to a big ball of suspicion.

But what can the clean athletes do about all that other than campaign for more testing? In fact, this is something they have done. In 2015 Kenyan athletes including former marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang barricaded themselves inside the national federation’s offices for two days demanding more be done to tackle doping.

For some people, the poor testing regime in Kenya, combined with their stellar results, is reason enough to accuse everyone of doping.

Yet Kiprop was caught in an out-of-competition test. Rio Olympic marathon winner Jemima Sumgong was caught in an out-of-competition test. Is that a contradiction? Is the testing happening or not? It is both, and there is no contradiction … once you stop talking about “Kenyans” as a single entity, then both things can exist at once: some athletes can be doping and getting away with it because testing is lax, and some athletes can be caught because testing is happening. And some athletes can be training hard and not doping.

When you hear that former Olympic 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop has failed a drugs test, it is sad and a shame, and it may arouse your suspicions of everyone, but it doesn’t instantly prove that Eliud Kipchoge and co are only winning all those marathons because they too are doping.

Don’t add one and one together and get two thousand doping Kenyans. That’s not good maths, and, in my opinion, it’s not fair.

Adharanand Finn is the author of ‘The Way of the Runner’ and ‘Running with the Kenyans’. You can find him on Twitter here.

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The post ‘Don’t add one and one together and get two thousand doping Kenyans’ appeared first on Fast Running.

Asbel Kiprop, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist in Bejing and three-time world champion over 1500m in 2011, 2013 and 2015 has reportedly tested positive for EPO in an out of competition test, according to reports from the Daily Mail.

On Tuesday, reports in Kenya said a “high profile runner who has “dominated world championships over the years” was embroiled in a doping scandal, and on Wednesday (May 2) the Daily Mail reported his agent, Federico Rosa, said he had “heard the same rumour” and was “still trying to get confirmation”.

Kenyan Kiprop, who is the fifth-fastest ever over 1500m, with a personal best of 3:26.69, finished second at the 2008 Olympics, aged 19, but was upgraded to the gold medal in 2012 when first across the line, Moroccan born Rashid Ramzi, who was representing Bahrain failed a drug test.

Kiprop responded on Wednesday, saying: “I have read the reports linking me to doping. As an athlete, I have been at the forefront of the fight against doping in Kenya, a fight I strongly believe in and support.

“I would not want to ruin all I have worked for since my first international race in 2007. I hope I can prove that I am a clean athlete in every way possible.”

There has been no confirmation from the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) or Athletics Kenya (AK).

Kiprop has been a regular on the start list of the opening Diamond League meet in Doha, but he is not listed among the entries for Friday’s event.

The 28 year-old’s agent Rosa, also represented marathoner Rita Jeptoo. The winner of the 2013 Boston Marathon and 2014 Chicago marathon was banned after a sample given prior to winning the Chicago marathon tested positive for EPO.

Respected coaches, journalists and athletes have been quick to respond to the news on social media.

Asbel Kiprop has tested positive for EPO. 3 time world champion. Olympic Gold Medalist… 3rd fastest human of all time in the 1,500m..

Guess who his agent is? Rosa.

— Steve Magness (@stevemagness) May 2, 2018

I'm not surprised, because at this point, there are very few athletes who would surprise me by testing positive.

But man, this sucks. I loved watching Kiprop race, floating along with his impossibly skinny legs, the unreal accelerations. Not a happy day for the sport. https://t.co/rvSKYAAjye

— Jonathan Gault (@jgault13) May 2, 2018

Kiprop. When are we going to start charging drug cheats with the crime it actually is, FRAUD! Thousands of £ STOLEN from athletes and meet promoters. Absolute joke. No doubt nothing will change and we’ll have the same convo again about another athlete in a few months. #Kiprop

— Ross Murray (@RosscoJammin) May 2, 2018

You all surprised by Asbel Kiprop? Nope. There’s virtually no testing in Kenya. It’s a total farce, he’s one of the “greatest ever” and he’s juiced up on EPO.. go get all the others now please.

— Guy Learmonth (@GuyLearmonth) May 2, 2018

The post Former Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop fails drug test appeared first on Fast Running.

Taking place in in Kampala, Uganda, the Kenya team, that included 1500m world champion Asbel Kiprop led from the start. The world champion, who ran the first leg, impressively established an ever increasing gap over his fellow athletes.

Winfred Nzisa Mbithe, and Bernard Kipkorir Koros maintained that gap in the second and third relay legs respectively.

Going into the final leg, the Kenyan team handed off to Beatrice Chepkoech, who had the task to charge home over the final 2K.

However she was up against Ethiopia’s 1500m world champion Genzebe Dibaba, and as anticipated, Dibaba chased Chepkoech down, but the Kenyan anchor kept her cool to bring home the win for a delighted Kenyan team.

Podium places:
1st place: Kenya – time: 22:22
2nd Ethiopia – time: 22:30
3rd Turkey – 22:37.

Other notable final placing:
USA’s team of Cory Leslie, Marisa Howard, Paul Chelimo, and Eleanor Fulton, finished in 7th place with a time of 24:08.

The post Kenya win the first IAAF World Cross Country mixed relay appeared first on Fast Running.