Olympic champ Asbel Kiprop given four-year doping ban

Asbel Kiprop, a three-time world champion, has been banned for four years. [Courtesy]

The former Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop has been handed a shock four-year ban for doping.

The International Association of Athletics Federation Disciplinary Tribunal said Kiprop tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) in 2017.

Kiprop, who won the 1500m Beijing Olympics race in 2008, has been serving a suspension over the positive test result since last year May.  

IAAF’s Athletes Integrity Unit (AIU), an independent body which manages all doping-related matters for athletics, said Kiprop’s ban is effective from Feb 3, 2018 meaning he has served a year.

Innocent

The 29-year-old Kiprop has over the time maintained that the sample had been tampered with by officials -- who he claims are punishing him for not being generous enough with the money he gave them.

In June 2018, Kiprop wrote in a Facebook post: “I have let the struggle to prove my innocence go. Not because I doped but I take the sacrifice because I support the anti-doping campaign.”