Punishing athletes should not be the only approach to tackling anti-doping

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The war in Ukraine. Russia’s special operation in Ukraine. Whatever way one may want to frame this armed conflict, the fact is, it has brought untold suffering to those directly affected.

Ukrainians have seen their homes and livelihoods brutally destroyed. Lives have been lost in their thousands. For what?

Some pro-Russian argue that Ukraine is to blame for leaning towards the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, an intergovernmental military alliance.

The fact however is a sovereign state has the right to self-determination and a nation cannot just invade its neighbour unprovoked. That is international law.

Russia is now becoming a pariah state. This is very much reflected in the sporting world.

Following the invasion in February many world sports organizations promptly banned Russian teams and athletes from competing in international events.

Many Russian athletes now have nowhere to practice their trade other than home.

The lucky few have been allowed to feature in international events under a neutral flag. But you can imagine their state of mind under such circumstances.

Russian sport has clearly gone through unprecedented difficulty.

In December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) banned Russia from international competition for four years because of widespread violations of anti-doping regulations in that country.

Wada however allowed Russian athletes to compete at the Olympics under a neutral flag.

Some people felt that the punishment was too lax as some Russian athletes who may have benefitted from the state-sanctioned doping would end up competing at the Games.

Still it was a powerful message that those caught doping and perpetrators of the violations would all feel the pinch.

This question of how to tackle doping came up at this year’s Play the Game Conference that was promoting democracy, transparency, and freedom of expression in the world sport.

Several speakers at the conference held in Odense, Denmark from June 27-30 averred that punishing athletes, who were sometimes victims, should not be the only approach to fighting use of performance enhancing substances.

That investigations should also be done on the states, officials and coaches who enable or force athletes into doping.

My interest was piqued by what Akaash Maharaj of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) said.

“Doping victimises athletes. There is something perverse about the anti-doping system, in that the clearest and harshest penalties are levied on the athletes, who have the least amount of power, and suffer the most, because of doping.”

He went on to observe that there were relatively modest penalties against the enablers of doping including political actors and sport leaders.

Think about it. Kenya has in recent years been on the radar of Wada because of the inordinately high and often high profile doping cases.

In 2016 the world anti-doping agency warned Kenyan athletes risked being banned from international competitions because of the frequency of the doping cases.

I did a quick check of current Kenyan cases as listed by Athletics Integrity Unit and it was, to say the least, not reassuring.

Some 54 elite Kenyan runners are ineligible to participate in competitions because they are serving anti-doping suspensions ranging from two years to a life ban as at June 30.

Henry Cheruiyot Kosgei, who will turn 40 on November 1, earned the notoriety of becoming the only Kenya to receive a life ban from the sport, on December 7, 2019 for using methylprednisolone and then going ahead to participate in a road race in Yaoundé while under suspension.

Some six Kenyans are currently serving eight year bans, in effect, career-ending punishments.

The most famous of them is undoubtedly Jemima Jelagat Sumgong, who was initially banned for four years on February 28, 1917 after testing positive to blood booster erythropoietin (EPO).

Her ban was doubled after she was found guilty of presenting forged medical documents in her defense. You wonder who she was colluding with.

Sumgong had won the 2016 Rio Olympic Games marathon gold, becoming the first Kenyan woman gold medallist over the distance.

According to AIU, between December and now, four top Kenyan runners have been suspended for doping violations.

They are Mathew Kisorio, for four years for three whereabouts failures, Maurice Munene Gachaga (two years for three whereabouts failures), Justice Kimutai (two years for, three whereabouts failures) and Edward Kibet Kiprop (three years for 19-norandrosterone and 19 noretiocholanolone use).

Of the 12 athletes listed on the provisional ban list by AIU either on notice of allegation or on charge, four are Kenyans!

The latest is 800m runner Eglay Nafuna Nalyanya, who was informed on March 18 of presence of banned substance norandrosterone in her sample.

It is curious that approximately half of the doping cases by Kenyans involve the presence of norandrosterone, a potent anabolic steroid well known for enhancing performance.

Why is its use so common with Kenyan athletes? Is it random or by design? Who supplies this prohibited steroid, and who administers it? Where?

So, by all means, let us punish the athletes. However, for the confidence to return in the anti-doping fight, is it not time that we saw other heads roll?

The coaches, the managers, the pharmacists, the doctors and the quacks, and the sports leaders who are abetting this vice and even gaining from it monetary and otherwise.

Otherwise, in this sports-filled year, I wish our Kenyan athletes all the best at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships, World Athletics Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

Stay clean, win clean.