Asbel Kiprop: I want a DNA test to prove there are no drugs in my system

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 3, 2015 Kenya's Asbel Kiprop celebrates after winning the men's 1500m race during the Diamond League Athletics meeting Weltklasse in Zurich. A Asbel Kiprop tested positive for the endurance-boosting drug EPO, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) confirmed on May 4, 2018 refuting allegations by the Kenyan track star that his sample might have been contaminated. / AFP PHOTO

Since May 5 when his world came tumbling down, Asbel Kiprop Kebenei, the men 1500m Beijing 2008 Olympic champion, has been a man on the warpath as he battles to protest his innocence after being accused of using banned blood-booster, rEPO.

The independent Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of world governing body, the IAAF, confirmed news broken by British right-wing publication, Daily Mail, that two urine samples collected from his home on November 27, 2017 had returned adverse findings confirming the presence of recombinant Erythropoietin (rEPO) in his system.

Kiprop, the three-time world men 1500m champion hailed as one of the finest middle distance runners of his generation, has refused to take the Adverse Doping Result Verdict (ADRV) lying down, going vocal on mainstream and social media in accusing AIU of a personal witch hunt.

“I have been left to fight this on my own. I have had no support even from my fellow athletes, some who have questioned my integrity in public.

“One day, the whole truth will come out and I will be proven innocent,” the Daegu 2011, Moscow 2013 and Beijing 2015 gold medallist at the Worlds grieved.

Kenya's Asbel Kiprop raises a finger as he wins the men's 1500 metres during the 2016 IAAF Birmingham Diamond League athletics meeting at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on June 5, 2016. / AFP PHOTO

International breakthrough

Like other famed local distance runners caught up in the dark web of rEPO use in the recent past, the lanky Kiprop is now a pariah, shunned by his peers and a nation that once chanted his name as he wrought medal after medal following his international breakthrough in 2007.

Where doors once opened, he has become the latest sore thumb in local and international athletics circles following in the path of the country’s infamous rEPO convicts, female marathoners Rita Busienei Jeptoo and Rio 2016 Olympic winner, Jemimah Jelagat Sumgong.

However, in a departure from the wall of silence Jeptoo and Sumgong adopted when their positive tests were confirmed and handed lengthy four year bans in 2014 and last year, Kiprop has decided to wage his defence in public.

On June 14 Kiprop posted on his Facebook page that he would not fight his case at a scheduled AIU disciplinary tribunal hearing, stating he believed the system had conspired to paint him a drug cheat.

However, Standard Sports has obtained the robust defence mounted through his legal counsel, Katwa and Kemboy law firm and can today reveal the contents contained in the 20-page document that he hopes will punch holes in a case where the AIU has admitted proper doping control procedures were not followed to the letter.

AIU jurisdiction

For starters, Kiprop “respectfully prays that the tribunal rules that AIU has no jurisdiction to prosecute this cause having come into operation (on March 6, 2018) after the date of the alleged doping on (November 27, 2017).”

He is willing to undergo a DNA test at a lab of the tribunal’s choice to establish once and for all the presence of rEPO in his system as well as the full disclosure of any other urine and blood test findings for samples collected from the athlete from October 2017 to January 2018, including blood passports.

2016 Rio Olympics - Athletics - Semifinal - Men's 1500m Semifinals - Olympic Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 18/08/2016. Taoufik Asbel Kiprop (KEN) of Kenya competes. REUTERS

“If there is any EPO in my body, it can be detected in my DNA and I want this test conducted because I know there is nothing in my system,” the two-time IAAF World Cross winner in Mombasa 2007 (junior 8km) and Kampala 2017 (medley relay) told Standard Sports.

He further contends the Doping Control Form (DCF) used by AIU to ask for four year ban from the sport be struck off from the tribunal hearing into his case since it is ‘false and incomplete’ as it omits the fact that he had advance warning of the drug testers visit a day prior and therefore, cannot be relied on in the proceedings.

Those are among the six other relieves requested by the athlete from the tribunal with the others being the athlete’s urine and blood results including the implicated sample of November 27, plus the athlete’s blood passport status for the period August 2009 to January 2018 marked as ‘exhibit 27’ be admitted as an exhibit in these proceedings.

Defence filed

Kiprop also requested the time frame given for the athlete to respond to the charges, April 12 and June 7 be extended to cover the period when the defence was filed at the tribunal late last month as the world awaits to know the fate of the runner who until May, was one of the most outspoken anti-doping campaigners.

His prayers add to what is already in the public domain, notably the stunning allegation that one of the Doping Control Officers (DCOs), Simon ‘Mburu’ Karugu received money from him via mobile money transfer, M-Pesa, a glaring malpractise that was acknowledged by AIU who stated it went against the laid down doping control procedures.

Asbel Kiprop competes in 800m during the Relays championship at Nyayo stadium on March 21, 2015.PHOTO/DENNIS OKEYO

“Why are they lying in an official document? I knew these guys from past tests and they told me they would come the following day. If I had doped, I would have ran from my home.

“The rules allows an athlete to miss up to three tests from the places they have indicated in the Whereabouts Form and therefore, I had the opportunity to escape but I did not,” he maintained.

“At the time, I did not know the reason why I was asked for money but I agreed to give them but I had no cash on me at the time. I have records that show I used an M-Pesa Paybill to settle my bill at a restaurant the previous day in Eldoret.

“It does not make sense that I had EPO in my blood almost six months before my first race of the season (Doha IAAF Diamond League in May).

“What use would it be to take drugs so long before my race? Would they be effective? There’s no medical studies that show it can last that long in the body,” the 29 year-old charged.

Samples switched

Paul Scott was the other tester who accompanied Mburu to collect samples at his home and his role in the request for cash has not been defined.

What is also known is that Kiprop alleged the possibility that the samples being switched with those laced with rEPO when he left them in the table room with the DCOs to pick his phone so that he could send the money.

AIU rejected any possibility of samples being switched while arguing sending money to the DCO does not invalidate the ADRV despite the fact that it contravened their stringent rules.

To date, the IAAF doping control watchdog has not revealed what action, if any, it will take against the accused DCO.

Kiprop is considering an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sports should the tribunal rule against him in a case he admitted last month had drained him financially having rejected the free legal counsel he was offered by the AIU.

“I’m sorry but I still have great doubts on the legal aid that you are offering me now.

“I do not see how I will get justice through a new lawyer that you are giving me a few weeks to the hearing.

“I have told you many times that I struggle because of this process.

“I can’t afford the lawyers that I trust and I can’t afford any doctors or scientific experts to help me with my case,” part of the email he sent to the integrity unit seen by Standard Sports says.