Kenya has missed a deadline to prove to the World Anti-Doping Agency it is tackling cheating in athletics.
Kenya has not been able to provide the assurances the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) is seeking and will be placed on a “watch-list” of nations at risk of breaching the agency’s code.
Kenya will be given two months to bring in new legislation and funding, or automatically be declared non-compliant with Wada.
That could mean a possible ban from the Olympics tbhis August in Brazil, and other major events.
A Wada statement said while “some progress has been made” with the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya, there is “still a lot of work required”.
It said that, following a series of questions to Kenyan authorities, it had not received the assurances it needed.
“This is now a matter for our independent compliance process,” it said.
As of January 2016, 18 Kenyan athletes were suspended for doping. Those 18 athletes are serving bans totalling 55 years. The best known is Rita Jeptoo, who has won the Boston and Chicago marathons;
Lilian Moraa Mariita was given the longest ban -eight years for taking steroids.
A taskforce met with Kenyan officials in Nairobi last week and asked for certain assurances by last Thursday.
Kenya has now been referred to Wada’s compliance committee.
David Howman, Wada’s director general, said “a fully functional” anti-doping agency is “a vital step for a country of Kenya’s sporting stature” if it is to “effectively protect clean athletes”.
He said it must be established “at the earliest opportunity”.
Kipchoge Keino, head of the National Olymmpic Committee of Kenya, said the country is addressing the concerns expressed but admitted time was “running out”.
With no operational anti-doping agency of its own, testing in Kenya is conducted by a regional anti-doping organisation on Wada’s behalf.
But, with limited resources, it was able to carry out just 40 drugs tests in the country in 2015.
Last week, senior Kenyan sports officials held last-ditch talks and agreed draft legislation that would enable its anti-doping agency to become operational.
“We are very serious,” said cabinet secretary Hassan Wario. “We have clamped down. We can’t compare to Russia at all. The government knows the importance of athletics to this nation. It’s our number one brand and we can’t spoil that.”
Wario insisted the country’s president was behind plans to clean up the sport, adding: “The athletes you see from now on will be clean.”
In a country where resources are limited, the temptation to take short cuts is obvious and the cost of educating and testing athletes a major challenge.
But, at a time when sporting integrity is under scrutiny like never before, Kenya is in a race against time to prove it wins clean. ––BBC