Kenyan sprinter Kishoyian banned four years for use of steroids

One of the most promising Kenyan sprinters of his generation Alphas Kishoyian has been handed a four-year ban by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) for using a performance enhancing substance.

Kishoyian, a 400m specialist who has represented Kenya in numerous championships will sit out all athletics activities until July 2024 when the ban ends.

His twelve-month absence from the track had been clouded in mystery with speculation rife that he was battling a whereabouts case. He conspicuously missed the Kenyan trials for Tokyo Olympics after skipping numerous other track and field gatherings that he otherwise used to participate in.

At last ADAK has ended the mystery and disclosed that urine samples collected from Kishoyian in March 2020 returned adverse Anti-Doping findings in July 2020 prompting the ban. 

A steroid, Norandrosterone, was present in the urine samples collected from Kishoyian.

The athlete, in his submissions to ADAK claimed that during the period of testing he had been eating pork meat hence his diet could have caused the adverse anti-doping findings.

Kishoyian also told ADAK that during the said period he had ingested a drug for common cold, Flucodex, but he did not indicate in the doping control form as required.

The Kenya Defense Forces athlete vehemently denied that he intentionally or negligently consumed any prohibited substance with the intentions of enhancing his performance.

Kishoyian also admitted to have been using a cocktail of supplements which he again did not disclose in the doping control form.

He failed to show what caused the anti-doping adverse findings in his urine sample and was provisionally suspended from competition in July last year as ADAK prosecuted the matter.

With his case closed Kishoyian’s four year ban was stamped leaving a promising one lap career staring at a certain disgraceful ending.

The substance found in Kishoyians’ sample seems to have overtaken an erstwhile favorite Erythropoietin (EPO) among Kenyan athletes as majority of offenders are nabbed with Norandrosterone in their systems.