Saruni's 40 days finally catch up with him

Kenyan athlete Michael Saruni, 28, was banned for four years after he was caught trying to send a proxy to a doping test.

His results from July 2022 have also been invalidated.

The 800m runner tried to cheat his way through the test at the national trials for the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games in Nairobi in June 2022.

Saruni, who was a semi-finalist at the Tokyo Olympics asked a substitute to impersonate him and provide a sample on his behalf.

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According to the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK), the USA-based athlete tried to switch himself with a look-alike to avoid being tested.

Saruni had been initially suspended by ADAK over the offense, but his case soared upon hearing.

ADAK witnesses said that the athlete had tried to switch personalities with a lookalike in one of the bathrooms close to the testing center at Kasarani, and upon being found out, he climbed the perimeter wall and fled, leaving his alleged lookalike to face consequences from ADAK officials and the police at the Kasarani Stadium Police Station.

The agency, through its supervisor Karen Wairimu further went on to state that they had positively identified Saruni before the race through a simple google search and later confirmed his presence on the start line before the 800m race when his name was mentioned and his face shown on the screen, wearing bib number 044.

It was then that Wairimu asked Saruni to go to the washroom as they made their way to the testing center after the race, and that is where the drama unfolded.

“At 1455hrs, we arrived at the DCS common entrance, and he started coughing persistently as he hurriedly made his way to the washroom just near the DCS main entrance. I followed him towards the washroom trying to catch up with him. He entered the male washroom which I followed him into, and saw him entering the first washroom stall which he locked while still coughing,” Wairimu says, in a witness statement contained in the SDT ruling.

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When he saw that the athlete had locked himself up, and having earlier insinuated that he had tested positive for COVID-19 the previous week, Wairimu asked a male chaperone Anthony Kamau to come in and keep an eye.

Kamau would then take over the eye-keeping duties and it was during this changeover, that the athlete also attempted to switch places with someone who looked like him who was later identified as Dennis Mwangi.

“I could hear someone in the stall coughing and flushing the toilet. I requested for the stall door to be opened. A male individual stepped out wearing the same outfit as the person I saw rushing to the toilets. I notice, however, that the individual did not look like an athlete who had just finished a race and was also not coughing,” Kamau says in his statement.

He then called another supervisor, Michael Omollo, and informed him of his suspicions and they agreed to call the first chaperone, Wairimu, to identify the athlete.

“As I was going back to the toilet stalls, I saw someone switching from the first stall to the next door. I followed the individual and found a male behind the door. He was wearing a black hooded top and black trousers. I requested him to step out of the stall. I asked him to leave the washroom with me so that Karen could identify the athlete known as Saruni,” recounts Omollo.

“He was in front of me as we left the washroom. As we approached the DCS, he immediately started running and jumped over a grilled perimeter wall.”

Coincidentally, the person who ran and scaled over the fence wore the same clothes as the man who had presented himself as Saruni.

In response to the allegations, the former African indoor 800m record holder Saruni denied intentionally evading the sample collection.

"I have been cooperating in submitting my sample since I became an athlete... I did not intentionally evade the sample collection after the race," he said.

Saruni further explained his interaction with Mwangi, stating that he had sent him money for upkeep and hotel bills.

"One day after I finished my race, I looked for one Mr. Dennis Mwangi Mburu who had accompanied me to the stadium and was holding my money amounting to Kenya Shillings Seventy Thousand (Kshs. 70, 000) however, I could not locate him and I left to TRM as I was feeling tired. Later I learnt that Mr. Dennis Mwangi Mburu had been arrested I went back to Kasarani Stadium to pick up my car and the money but could not get help as it was already late.

The following morning, I went to the stadium to record my statement. I received a call from Mr. Dennis Mwangi Mburu informing me that he was mistakenly arrested by the ADAK officer thinking that it was me, I went down to the cells to record a statement to free him. I have never received any calls from the officers informing me that they needed me to submit samples for testing," he noted.

However, these statements were downed by the Tribunal, which confirmed that indeed the athlete had been positively identified before and after the race, and asked to accompany the chaperone to the testing center.

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Furthermore, it was revealed that there was a transaction of Sh70,000 between Saruni and his ‘friend’ Mwangi, to which Saruni said he had sent him the cash to help him withdraw for his upkeep and payment of hotel bills.

However, the Tribunal quashed this with logic that if indeed the money was for upkeep and payment of hotel bills, Saruni would not have gone back to his hotel, located behind TRM, without getting the cash, and his car, which he said Mwangi used to drive him from Eldoret to Nairobi.

His sanction will last until the end of August 2027. The athlete will not be able to take part in the next Olympic Games, which will be held in Paris in July and August.