Sport
Athletics Kenya bans three marathon runners for doping offences
Kenya has banned three marathon runners for doping offences, including the first case of an athlete using the banned blood booster EPO, the country’s national athletics body said on Thursday.
Wilson Loyanae Erupe, who won the 2012 Seoul marathon in a course record, and Nixon Kiplagat were each suspended for two years while Moses Kiptoo Kurgat received a one-year ban, Athletics Kenya said.
Erupe, 24, tested positive for EPO, or erythropoietin, in an out-of-competition test conducted last year, making him the first Kenyan athlete to be caught using the banned drug hormone which increases the red blood cell count.
Kiplagat, 26, tested positive for the anabolic steroid Nandrolone, after competing in a race in Mexico.
Charges were dropped against a fourth runner, Francis Kibiwott, who represented Kenya at the 2007 World Half Marathon in Udine, Italy, finishing 45th.
The suspensions come amid an increased focus on distance-running powerhouse Kenya’s high-altitude training camps and claims that the use of performance-enhancing drugs was rife among athletes, who are feted as national heroes.
A television report last year implicated Kenyan athletes in doping, prompting the government to set up an independent commission earlier this month to look into the claims.
The task force is expected to present its findings and make recommendations to the national Olympic committee within the month.
