the ” way “ that Kenya will have to go through against doping “will be long”said Thursday, January 5, the president of the national athletics federations, Sebastian Coe, after a series of suspensions for taking prohibited products by Kenyan athletes.
Kenya, an East African country, has made anti-doping commitments after escaping an exclusion in 2022 by the International Athletics Federation. But dozens of Kenyan runners have been suspended after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs last year.
Kenya, renowned for its long-distance and middle-distance runners, has been classified since 2016 in category A of the countries under surveillance by world athletics and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), alongside Belarus, Ethiopia, Morocco or Ukraine.
“The road will be long, we must not delude ourselves, this will not be solved overnight”Sebastian Coe said Thursday during a press conference in Nairobi with Kenyan Minister of Sports, Ababu Namwamba.
The Kenyan authorities have promised to spend 25 million dollars (24 million euros) over five years to finance the fight against doping with the recruitment of additional agents, an increase in the number of tests and the strengthening of education and awareness programs sportsmen.
“Kenya will spare no effort in the fight against dopingassured Kenyan President William Ruto on Twitter. The government will go the extra mile to protect the integrity of athletics. » The country set up its own anti-doping agency in 2016 and introduced criminal penalties, including prison terms. But no one has been prosecuted to date.