Sebastian Coe Ukraine Usa Belarus Ethiopia Morocco Bahrain Nigeria Kenya Sporting athletics Sebastian Coe Ukraine Usa Belarus Ethiopia Morocco Bahrain Nigeria Kenya

Coe says Kenya faces 'long journey' to tackle athletics doping

channelnewsasia.com

NAIROBI, Kenya: World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe said on Thursday (Jan 5) that Kenya faced a "long journey" to tackle a doping crisis that has mired the sport in the track and field powerhouse.Kenya has vowed to clean up its act after last year escaping a World Athletics ban for drug use that threatened to make the country a sporting pariah.A raft of Kenyan runners have been suspended after testing positive for banned drugs, with more than 50 Kenyans listed on the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) global list of ineligible athletes.The East African nation has been in the top category on the World-Anti Doping Agency watch list since February 2016, alongside only Bahrain, Belarus, Ethiopia, Morocco, Nigeria and Ukraine."The journey will be a long journey (to clean up athletics)," Coe said at a Nairobi press conference alongside Kenyan Sports Minister Ababu Namwamba."We should not kid ourselves this is going to be achieved overnight," he added, while also saying he was pleased by Kenya's commitment to crack down on the problem.The government has pledged US$25 million over five years to help finance more anti-doping personnel, increase testing and investigation and bolster education programmes."It's inevitable with the extra resourcing, the extra level of testing and the extra level of intelligence from the tests that the number of positives is likely to rise," Coe said."I have always said that I would rather have the short-term embarrassment of a positive test than a long-term decline and reputational damage of a sport both locally and internationally."Coe spoke to reporters after meeting Kenyan President William Ruto who vowed to "end doping"."Kenya will not spare any efforts in the fight against doping," Ruto said on

Related News
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said lowering the legal tackle height to waist-level could leave players "sitting ducks" after England's Rugby Football Union decided to make the change in community games from next season to reduce head injuries.
Sebastian Coe has refused to rule out a run to become president of the International Olympic Committee.
Kenya, under former Canada coach Damian McGrath, defeated the Canadian men 21-5 on Saturday in consolation play at the HSBC New Zealand Sevens in Hamilton, New Zealand.
World Athletics on Saturday said it is consulting with member federations on a proposal that would impose more stringent testosterone limits on transgender women athletes competing in women's track and field events.

Latest News

Change privacy settings
This page might use cookies if your analytics vendor requires them.