AK supports longer bans for drug cheats
Athletics Kenya senior Vice President David Okeyo (left) and Caleb Mwangangi, the 2014 Commonwealth 5000m games Gold medalist, at the launch of the Mulei Half Marathon on September 9, 2014. Athletics Kenya will not hesitate to support the World Anti-Doping Agency’s advocacy for longer bans if research on steroid longevity proves valid. FILE PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- According to a report on BBC Sport, a research conducted on mice in Oslo suggests some drugs could benefit athletes after their bans expire
- The research suggests muscles can retain the advantages given by anabolic steroids decades after the point at which they were taken
Athletics Kenya will not hesitate to support the World Anti-Doping Agency’s advocacy for longer bans if research on steroid longevity proves valid.
David Okeyo, AK vice president, said it’s not the first time they will be talking of longer bans of up to four years to rein in on cheats.
According to a report on BBC Sport, a research conducted on mice in Oslo suggests some drugs could benefit athletes after their bans expire.
Wada has welcomed the findings from Kristian Gundersen, Professor of Physiology at the University of Oslo. But Olivier Rabin, Wada’s director of science, said: “We need proof we can transfer such results to humans.”
The research suggests muscles can retain the advantages given by anabolic steroids decades after the point at which they were taken.
It could also have major implications for the existing anti-doping system, where a first-time offender is unlikely to be suspended for more than two years and may well serve less than half that.
“We have been talking about increasing the ban of two years for the first offenders to four year and life time ban for second offenders,” said Okeyo. “This will deter athletes from using performance enhancing drugs.”
UNDER SPOTLIGHT
Talking to BBC Sport, Rabin said: “In the future, if these results do demonstrate there is an issue beyond two or four years we will bring it to the attention of the members of our committees to start with, but also the executive committee of Wada and the foundation board, to see if that would justify the future revision of the code and changes to the rules.
“We can do a lot of things with mice that we cannot do with humans. “We can cure a lot of diseases in mice that we cannot cure yet in humans, so there is always a big gap between mice and humans. It doesn’t strictly mean these results will be transferred to human beings.”
Should the research be proved, previously-banned athletes like US sprinter Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay - the second fastest man in history - and Britain’s Dwain Chambers would again come under the spotlight.
This summer, 32-year-old Gatlin ran the fastest ever 100m and 200m times by a man in his thirties, despite twice having served suspensions.
