Doping gods ready to harvest from Kenya

The chicken are coming home roost, literally, for Kenyan athletics. No matter how long this great sporting nation will bury her head in the sand, the citing of Olympic Marathon champion Jemimah Sumgong to have tested for EPO, poignantly shows it his high noon for athletics in Kenya.

When the news broke yesterday, Standard Sports reached out to Sumgong’s manager, Federico Rosa of Rosa Associati, and he had this to say: “At the moment, the only comment I can give you if the news will be confirmed will really be a dramatic moment for Kenya and for all our sport. But even if we are far, it is a clear and important move against doping.”

Federico’s message, being the manager of an array of Kenyan athletics stars, is clear: Kenyan athletes are on their own.And remember misfortunes do not come singly. Word on the ground is samples of five more high profile athletes have drawn the interest of Doping Control gurus.

The axe is real

The axe is at the root of the trees. It’s harvest time for the gods of athletics. For, in spite of protestations by athletics mandarins right from Athletics Kenya to managers and coaches that our athletes are clean, statistics from anti-doping rooms paint a grim picture.

Before the country has recovered from the seismic busting of Rita Jeptoo (now serving a 4-year ban), Sumgong, who was celebrated .

For years now, athletics gods in Kenya have midwifed the birth of athletes, groomed and fattened them for the dance of the deities across European capitals, scorching tartan tracks, and in the process setting one record after another.

All this while, millions of dollars fly off ATM machines into the pockets of these gods and token appreciation is passed off to the Kenya athletes to appease their profuse sweat.

Ever wondered why some daughters and sons of the soil have burst to the big league and within no time recede to the remotest villages in Kenya’s bosom? The answer lies in the stables of the so called managers and coaches of local athletics.

A common saying among the Swahili, that ‘lisemwalo lipo, kama halipo laja’ (loosely translated, whatever is said must have happened, if not, it is coming) must now be interrogated in light of Sumgong’s A- sample testing positive.

And this is where Federico Rosa and Associates and coaches under the stable come in. A single athlete to test positive for a banned substance is one too many.

Rosa Associati boasts a list of shame replete with Rita Jeptoo, Agatha Jeruto, Matthew Kisorio and Botswana’s former 400m World Champion. Sumgong’s handlers are saying there is nothing to fear because they have papers, presumably, for Therapeutic Use Exemption but her B-sample will tell the truth.

Why always Rosa

However, it raises serious credibility questions that do not warrant wishing away with a wave of the hand. It is serious.

Just before the Rio Olympics, the Rosas – Federico and the elder Gabrielle were arraigned in Kibera Law Courts to answer charges of “conspired to cause injury by doping to the reputation and profession of athletes and preventing some of them their lawful exercise of their profession”.

At the time, Federico told Standard Sports: “And this is good (the charges), it will help clear our camp completely and also help protect our senior athletes. So nothing big and we are cooperating further.” And as sure as the sun will rise from the East, the case was terminated. And Jeptoo continues to serve her ban.

In her reaction then, Sumgong (one of the senior athletes in the Associati stable) said: “Such news (Rita’s doping) paints our image as dopers when we are not. It’s good the truth comes out.”

Time for truth

There are things that do not add up. Word is, London Marathon organisers are the ones who tipped Reuters who broke the story of Sumgong testing positive.

Based on precedence, even if Sumgong’s B-sample tests positive, she can argue her case of on prejudice.

In brief, incase a sample tests positive, the athlete is notified, then Athletics Association in this case Athletics Kenya, then agent and the athlete is required to submit a defence.

In Sumgong’s case, before she had even submitted her defence, London Reuters already had the bad news. Now, that provides a classic case of cover up. Question is, who leaked the results?

If Sumgong ends up earning a reprieve, AK and Rosa Associati will not be obliged to offer Kenyans an explanation, and we will, therefore, bury our heads deeper in the sand.