Zane Robertson’s arrest raises more questions than answers

More questions than answers have been raised following the arrest of Kenyan-based New Zealand runner Zane Robertson who is currently serving an 8-year ban for doping.

The 33-year-old Robertson, a long-distance athlete who has been training in Kenya for several years was arrested after police discovered an AK-47 rifle and 23 rounds of ammunition in his house in Iten as reported by The Standard.

Police commander Tom Makori told the national newspaper that a woman had initially made an assault complaint against the athlete after attending a birthday party at his residence and the weapons were discovered in the process of investigating the claim.

This is not the first time that the Newzelander is making headlines in Kenya. In March this year, he was handed an eight-year ban for doping after his claim that he was mistakenly injected with EPO after seeing Kenyan doctors for a Covid-19 jab was exposed.

Robertson, who won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and has competed in the past two Olympics, initially tested positive for EPO at the Great Manchester Run in May last year – which left him facing a four-year punishment.

Focus shifts from track as road racing season heats up

However, he tried to escape by telling the authorities that the banned drug had only got into his body after he visited a Kenyan medical facility to get a Covid-19 vaccination, only to be injected with the banned substance instead.

Robertson also supported his evidence with sworn affidavits from two Kenyan doctors, but his case began to unravel when the vice-president of the medical facility told anti-doping investigators that the marathon runner was not administered EPO at the facility, that he had not attended to at the facility on the alleged date and the patient number on the notes was not his.

What’s more, after his ban, Robertson twice went on podcasts to talk about his situation and admitted to transporting EPO from his home in Ethiopia to his new home in Kenya. The importing across borders of performance-enhancing drugs is a crime and it was expected that he would be arrested after that admission.

In the face of the latest development, Athletics Kenya (AK) boss Jack Tuwei has called on the government to act on such personalities who come to the country with hidden agenda under the disguise of training.

"My concern is with the people charged with allowing these people in the country. Do they know what they come to do here and how long they stay? We can't have foreigners staying around for eternity doing illegal things.

We have had some bringing into the country illegal medical apparatus. If they can bring in weapons then how safe are our athletes? How far can they go?” AK president Tuwei posed while speaking to Daily Nation.

This, however, leaves more questions than answers. How did the athlete acquire the weapons in his possession? Why wasn’t he arrested earlier in March when he admitted to smuggling banned substances in the country? What action, other than the sanctions, was taken against him for falsifying documents to blame Kenyan doctors for doping?