Sumgong: From Olympic heroine to doping poster girl

2016 Virgin Money London Marathon Winners Photocall - The Tower Hotel, St Katharine's Way, London - 25/4/16 Winner of the elite women's race, Kenya's Jemima Sumgong poses with the trophy Action Images via Reuters

How did it all go downhill for Kenya’s first woman to win an Olympic gold in women marathon?

No one ever saw a record eight-year ban and taking up the mantle of the new poster girl of the doping scourge in Kenya coming the way of the charming, gregarious and infectious but now disgraced Olympic champion Jemimah Jelagat Sumgong.

Despite her conviction and four-year ban by the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) following the successful case levelled against her by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) for the use of proscribed blood booster, recombinant Erythropoietin (rEPO), the news of her being barred from the sport until 2027 delivered on Friday is still staggering.

On Friday, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), the world body IAAF’s anti-doping watchdog announced on Twitter the ban of the 2016 London Marathon winner, effective from January 19.

“We also want to underline the vital support of ADAK in pursuing this case. They are a valuable partner in the fight against doping in Kenya,” AIU chief Brett Clothier said.

Sumgong, 34, equals the unwanted record of little-known distance runner, Lilian Mariita, in receiving the harshest punishment handed to a Kenyan for doping.

Having been initially suspended for four years, Mariita quietly sneaked back to the United States and won a string of races in America and neighbouring Mexico in cahoots with a crooked Russian agent.

However, her luck ran out when, acting on a tip-off, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) agents caught up with her at an annual jog at Frankfort and collected her urine sample that tested positive for steroids.

USADA then proceeded to slap the runner, who hails from Nyaramba in Nyamira County, with an eight-year ban in 2016, the longest for a Kenyan runner until Sumgong happened.

So, how did the dashing woman who made history in Rio De Janeiro when she became the first female runner from her nation to win the principal medal in sport at the 2016 Olympics end up being exposed as one of the biggest cheats?

In attempting to explain, one has to go back to how Sumgong managed to charm her way to the high table of athletics despite carrying huge question marks since 2012 when her two-year suspension for banned substance prednisolone use was overturned by the IAAF.

“Myself, I am sure I am clean. No doping scandal at all,” Sumgong told Letsrun.com before she ran at the Olympics.

She later went on to cement her status as the number one female marathoner in the world by winning gold in 2:24:04 to add to the London title in April the same year.

Sumgong was convincing in expressing she was not a drug cheat in Rio, where she used the word “clean” seven times, according to Letsrun.com.

News broke just before she ran the 2014 New York Marathon, that the woman she supplanted as the poster girl of doping in Kenya and former training partner, Rita Jeptoo, had tested positive for rEPO.

At the pre-race press conference at the Big Apple, Sumgong again stressed how little she trained with Jeptoo.

She went on to finish second in New York, but did not have her big breakthrough until winning London in April 2016 and following it up with a win at the Olympics.

After the Olympics, Sumgong’s training group based at the Stanley Biwott and Rosa Associati Training Camp in Kapsabet, established itself as the top female marathoner factory in the world.

This prompted a team of international journalists under the IAAF Day in Life Project to visit the camp in March 2017 as Sumgong prepared to defend her London title the following month.

Arriving in Kapsabet, the outfit ran at the time by her husband and head coach, Noah Talam Sumgong, was the gold standard.

Training partner Sarah Chepchirchir had a tremendous breakthrough of her own, running 2:19:47 to win the Tokyo Marathon in February 2017.

Rio 2016 Olympian and 2016 Paris champion Visiline Jepkesho, and former World Youth champ Purity Rionoripo, who lowered her lifetime best from 2:24:47 to 2:20:55 to win the Paris Marathon in 2017, were part of the group.

Sumgong and her training partners allowed the journalists to film an hour long easy run at the expansive Nandi Bears tea estate, fielded questions at the club house and later with her husband, host the media crew to tea at the house they were expanding.

Throughout, Sumgong’s dashing smile as she engaged with her visitors as she outlined her vision for 2017 bowled everyone involved over.

Then, just over a fortnight after that tour, the bombshell news broke and that is where a shocking web of lies saw Sumgong eventually pay the ultimate price.

Her latest troubles started in June last year when the AIU, satisfied a four-year ban was not enough, wrote to her asking her to own up to a second charge of lying about her positive test.

AIU gave Sumgong the option of either accepting a second charge of lying about her positive test and serve an additional four years ban to the SDT sanction that took effect on April 3, 2017 or seek a hearing to contest the new allegations at their Disputes Tribunal.

At the time, Talam expressed his shock at what he termed as a smear campaign against Kenya by the AIU, with the body seeking to further punish the athlete by stripping her of titles and prize earnings from the sport.

“This may result in a ban from all sport for a significant period, disqualification of results and the forfeiture of any medals, titles, points and prize and appearance money,” part of the letter read.

When contacted, Talam acknowledged they had received the letter but alleged their efforts to respond to the new charges had hit a brick wall.

“It seems there is something else these people are looking for. For sure, this is killing, this is not right! Which law states that once a verdict has been passed, you create another rule to follow up? They should have passed any judgement at the first instance,” Talam bitterly complained at the time.

According to the AIU letter, Sumgong was accused of “tampering with any part of Doping Control...The documents enclosed with this Notice of Charge constitute the evidence that the AIU relies upon in support of the charge.”

Evidence of the new charge against the Rio 2016 winner was anchored on her stated defence that was rejected by the SDT, where the marathoner claimed she had sought treatment at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in February 2017 in explaining the presence of rEPO in her system.

“This was supported by a handwritten statement from you, which you stated that you had admitted yourself on February 27, 2017 and received treatment including an injection and a blood transfusion,” AIU wrote.

Her defence was, however, dismantled by a letter dated June 9, 2017 from Dr Peter Michoma (Acting Head of Department, Reproductive Health at KNH) responding to ADAKs letter of May 4.

It confirmed, among others, that the medical document Sumgong submitted purporting to be from KNH was a fake and  thatthe author was unknown to KNH.

It said the medical treatments the Rio 2016 winner claimed to have received at KNH were not consistent with the facility's procedures for managing ectopic pregnancies, including specifically that the erythropoietin injection is not standard practice for the condition.

The IAAF Doping Control body agreed with SDTs verdict but charged Sumgong further arguing that her attempt to explain the presence of rEPO constituted fraudulent conduct that put in jeopardy the disciplinary procedure before the Kenyan tribunal.

In response, Talam saw the latest development as another sign of what he claims to be a sinister plot to undermine Kenyan distance running.

“If we are not careful as Kenyans, we will kill ourselves. The truth is Jemimah did not dope but there is no way to defend yourself if (samples) are spiked,” he claimed.