Here are the top Kenyan athletes who got banned for doping
By COLLINS NABISWA
A report released by World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) on Thursday in Munich, Germany indicated that Kenya was among countries whose athletes were exposed to a high number of abnormal specimen cases presenting a high prevalence of (suspected) blood doping.
Here are some the ten Kenyan star athletes who have been banned for d0ping in the recent past:
1. Rita Jeptoo – One of the highlight of Kenya’s doping problem. She has won the Boston Marathon three times, including setting the course record (2:18:57) in 2014. She has also won marathons in Chicago, Stockholm, and Milan, as well as having represented Kenya in the event at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. She was the bronze medalist at the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships. Jeptoo tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test 25 September 2014. Athletics Kenya handed her a two-year ban from sports for the anti-doping rule violation.
2. Mathew Kipkoech Kisorio – Another big name that was brought down by doping. Kisorio has a half marathon best of 58:46 minutes (making him the third fastest ever) and a marathon best of 2:10:58 hours. On the roads, he has won the Philadelphia Half Marathon, Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon and Stramilano races. He tested positive for steroids at the 2012 Kenyan Athletics Championships and admitted his drug use, claiming that medical staff in Kenya had promoted system of doping to athletes.
3. Elizabeth Muthoka – National 400m champion was handed a two year ban after failing a dope test. A new national 400m record of 50.8 seconds that she set in 2008 was also revoked and she was made to return earnings from competitions that year. Muthoka tested positive for banned substance nandrolone at the National Athletics Championships on June 28, 2008.
4. Joyce Zachary – Born on 6 June 1986 in Chepkoya, Bungoma County the sprinter who specializes in 400m represented at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China where after breaking the national record in the one-lap race she failed a doping test and was handed a two year ban.
5. Koki Manunga – The 400m hurdler failed a doping test alongside compatriot Zakary at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing.
6. Emily Chebet – The two-time cross-country world champion, the cross-country world champion in 2010 and 2013, was banned for four years after testing positive for the diuretic and masking agent furosemide.
7. David Munyasia – The Kenyan boxer was the first athlete to be found in violation of International Olympic Committee anti-doping rules at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. On 10 August 2004, the IOC announced that Munyasia, a bantamweight, had tested positive for cathine on 6 August. Munyasia confessed he was regular user of miraa (khat).
8. Wilson Loyanae Ekupe – He has a personal best of 2:05:37 hours in marathon and has won races in Mombasa, Gyeongju and Seoul. Hailing from Lodwar, Erupe tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test in 2012 and was banned from competing for two years in February 2013.
9. Delilah Asiago – She is a retired female athlete who specialized in long-distance running. She was banned for two years after she tested positive for doping during the 1999 Saint Silvester Race. Nevertheless, she bounced back in 2006 when she won the Dubai Marathon.
10. Julia Mumbi Muraga – The Japan-based athlete made her marathon debut at the 2006 Beijing Marathon but finished outside of the top ten bracket. She was fifth at the 2007 Nagoya Marathon, fourth at theSapporo Half Marathon, then won that year’s Kobe Half Marathon. Muraga won the 2014 Cologne Marathon in a time of 2:28:00 hours, but tested positive for EPO post-race. She was stripped of her victory and slapped with a two-year ban.
