Three-time world champion Asbel Kiprop has questioned the credibility of the sampling in the doping test he allegedly failed.
In a three-page letter released through his lawyer Katwa Kigen on Thursday, the former Olympic champion pleaded innocence.
He narrated events that came after control officers Simon Mburu Karugu and Paul Scott, whom he was familiar with from past tests, went to his home while he was asleep, having notified him of their intended visit a day earlier.
Kiprop said he agreed to their request to provide a urine sample but that when he completed the test, Mburu asked for money so he left the pair in his sitting room and went to the bedroom to collect the cash.
The athlete said he then decided against handing them cash and opted to send it through M-Pesa.
“I remain perplexed on how my innocent sample could turn positive the only time money was extorted from me. It is not beyond my suspicion that my sample turned positive because I may have remitted less money than I was expected to,” said the former Olympic champion.
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Kiprop claimed that the samples may have been switched before they were labelled ‘A and B’ and taken away in his absence.
He said, under world doping rules, an athlete is not supposed to be given notice of visits for sample collection, especially not when they are out-of-competition tests.
Noting the EPO is injected into the body, he said that the last time he went for an injection was when travelling to the World Relay Championships in Bahamas in May 2014.
Kiprop got the news that he had confirmed positive for doping on February 3 — four months after the sample collection.
He admits he was shocked and wonders why protocol was broken with news reaching him through media.
He alleged individuals have approached him to accept the doping charge so he is made an ambassador of the IAAF Anti-Doping Delegate, offer he claimed he rejected.