Kenya escapes athletics ban but hard work to clean tainted image awaits

The whole of Kenya breathed a huge sigh of relief on Wednesday night when it became apparent that the country had evaded a potential ban from World Athletics following the recent spate of worrying doping cases that rocked the sport.

The news was revealed after World Athletics President Seb Coe pointed out to the government’s move of increasing anti-doping funding with an allocation of 619 million shillings annually for the next five years seeing Kenya avoid being sanctioned.

“Over the course of one year, 40% of all the positives recorded in doping tests in global athletics are in Kenya. This was not something the sport, and certainly not World Athletics, was prepared to sit and develop.

I particularly welcome the additional resource made available by the Government of Kenya in this fight. The only way that we can reduce the scale of this problem is a joint commitment across all the sports stakeholders in Kenya and of course World Athletics and its Athletics integrity unit,” Coe said after the World Athletics Council Meeting held in the Italian capital of Rome.

And in the decision made by the governing body, the Council Meeting agreed that the additional financial commitment from the Kenyan government was the appropriate response needed to the situation the country faced.

“The Council discussed the ongoing situation with doping in Kenya in the context of the Athletics Integrity Unit’s regular report.

It was agreed that the Kenyan Government’s commitment to provide an additional $5 million a year for the next five years to strengthen Kenya’s anti-doping programs was an appropriate response to the situation at this time.

As Kenya remains a Category A federation under the World Athletics anti-doping rules, the onus remains on Kenyan authorities to work closely with the AIU to ensure these funds are used effectively," the statement said.

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With the positive news allaying fears of any severe sanction, the hard work needed to clean the tainted image awaits custodians of the sport as fear grows as to how long the country can keep coming up with measures to avoid being banned.

Currently, a total of 55 athletes are serving suspensions issued by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), with a further eight provisionally suspended and awaiting the outcomes of their cases.

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Kenya, who have won 34 of its 35 Olympic gold medals in track and field events, is currently among seven countries deemed a 'Category A' federation - the highest doping risk - by the AIU, meaning athletes from the countries have to undergo at least three tests in the 10 months prior to a major event to be able to compete there.