The pressure on Athletics Kenya intensified further on Tuesday as the IAAF revealed it had been investigating alleged doping cover-ups in the country since March. The IAAF's admission came just hours after Dick Pound, who led the damning Independent Commission report into Russian athletics, also warned "a lot of performance-enhancing drugs" were being used in Kenya.
Athletics’ world governing body confirmed that its Ethics Commission, which is to publish a report into the alleged corrupt behaviour of several former members of the International Association of Athletics Federations next month, is investigating the African country. “An IAAF staff member referred allegations of the covering up of doping in Kenya to the IAAF Ethics Commission in March of 2015,” the federation admitted.
Meanwhile Pound has claimed the problems in Kenya are not only a concern for the World Anti-Doping Agency but should worry every endurance athlete. “It is pretty clear that Kenya have enjoyed huge success in the endurance events and it is also pretty clear that there is a lot of performance-enhancing drugs being used in Kenya,” he said. “That should be a matter of concern for athletes. It certainly is a matter of concern to Wada. And it should be a concern anyone participating in those events.”
Pound's comments follow those of the Kenyan Olympic Committee chairman, Kipchoge Keino, who warned last week that Wada was "seriously considering" banning Kenya from track and field for four years. There have also been rumours that - unnamed - marathon runners have paid bribes to avoid serving doping bans.
Detectives have also questioned three of the most senior officials at Athletics Kenya - Isaiah Kiplagat, the chairman, David Okeyo, the vice-president, and Joseph Kinyua, its former treasurer - over claims they pocketed close to $700,000 from Nike, an accusation the sportswear manufacturer has strongly denied. Okeyo, who sits on the IAAF's 26-person ruling council, and Kiplagat have denied the allegations, which they claim were made by a disgruntled former employee.
Pound, who was speaking before a two-day Wada meeting in Colorado which will discuss his report into Russian athletics, the possible establishment of a new independent anti-doping testing organisation and other countries that may not be Wada-code compliant, also went out of his way to defend new IAAF president, Sebastian Coe.
Coe has come under widespread criticism for not speaking out against corruption in the IAAF and lavishing praised on his predecessor, Lamine Diack, who is now under investigation by French police, but Pound told Radio 4's Today programme Coe was the "right man" for the job.
“His ascension to the presidency gives the IAAF the unique opportunity that it has not had for many years to really tackle some of these issues,” he added. “Don’t forget that for a good part of the time he was vice-president his every waking moment - and I’m sure many of his sleeping moments - were focused on getting the London Olympics delivered and properly wound out.”
Pound also left open the possibility for Russia’s track and field athletes to return to compete in next year’s Rio Olympics but said they must make the widespread changes recommended by his independent commission last week.
“I think if there is a will there is certainly a way. There are some changes that have to be made and imposed in Russia and I assume they won’t just limit it to athletics but across the board,” he said. “While I don’t think you can necessarily change the culture that has developed over the years you can certainly change the conduct pretty quickly if you want to. There is whole range of things that can be done with the supervision of Wada.”
Meanwhile the IAAF has announced that their five-person investigation team that will verify the reforms programme in the All-Russia Athletics Federation (Araf) will be headed by Rune Andersen, a Norwegian international anti-doping expert, and include the former 200m runner Frankie Federicks.
The investigation team, which will monitor whether Araf takes the measures needed to regain IAAF membership, will also include three other IAAF council members: Abby Hoffman, Anna Riccardi, and Geoff Gardner.
Coe said: "After consultation with Wada, we will set the verification criteria. The five-person inspection team, led by a renowned anti-doping expert, Rune Andersen, has an extraordinary amount of experience to ensure Araf meets the criteria and is eligible to once again enter athletes into international competition." Guardian Service
