Vlak voor de start van de WK Atletiek komen er vanuit Rusland en Kenia sterke signalen dat beide landen nog steeds met doping worstelen. Rusland is al uitgesloten van de WK. Kenia niet, maar de vraag is of dat wel had gemoeten: vorig jaar werden maar liefst 41 Keniaanse atleten betrapt en ook dit jaar wordt er gerommeld. Dat is door de ZDF zelfs vastgelegd op beeld via een verborgen camera, al beweert Athletics Kenya dat de documentaire onbetrouwbaar is.
*ZDF-reportage legt epogebruik Keniaanse atleten bloot
Julius Kirwa twijfelt geen moment. Natuurlijk steekt de bondscoach van de Keniaanse atletiekploeg zijn handen ervoor in het vuur: er wordt geen doping gebruikt door zijn pupillen. “Mijn team is clean. Er zijn heel veel testen gedaan en ik verzeker je dat de ploeg honderd procent schoon is.”
De reportage van ZDF-verslaggever Markus Harm geeft – luttele dagen voordat de WK atletiek in Doha losbarsten – een ander beeld. Een ontluisterend beeld zelfs. Hij slaagde erin om met een verborgen camera vast te leggen hoe twee leden van de Keniaanse selectie – een man en een vrouw – epo geïnjecteerd krijgen. Rechtstreeks in de ader. Drie weken voor de WK.
Lees verder op www.nos.nl en bekijk de ontluisterende ZDF-reportage.
UPDATE: Athletics Kenya heeft een uitgebreide (Engelse) reactie laten uitgaan over de documentaire, hieronder te lezen in zijn volledigheid (we hebben de belangrijkste delen vet gemaakt). De documentaire zou niet betrouwbaar zijn, de papieren waarop de ZDF baseert dat Athletics Kenya een rol speelt in het leveren van doping zouden vals zijn, en Markus Harm zou de namen van de atleten die gefilmd zijn niet willen vrijgeven, zodat niet na te gaan is of het inderdaad om WK-deelnemers gaat.
Our attention has been drawn to a release by a Mr Markus Harm about a claim or allegations of massive doping problem in Kenya and we wish to state as follows:
IAAF issued strict instructions early this year on the athletes’ qualifications to the World Championship in Doha. All the athletes selected for the World Championship met all the conditions and we in Athletics Kenya received and certified all the results as forwarded to us by ADAK the body responsible for carrying out all the tests.
It is alleged by the said Mr. Harm that there are two athletes who were injected with EPO and administered by a Doctor. Athletics Kenya is not aware of any athlete who has been injected with EPO or any other substance. We request the said Mr. Harm to provide as with any evidence of the allegations as he stated that he witnessed the Doctor administering the EPO in order to enable us take action.
We also advise the said Mr. Harm that if he is not comfortable with this process of availing the evidence to us, he should avail the information to the Athletics Integrity Unit. As far as we are aware, no such evidence or information has been supplied to the AIU or any other relevant Authority. Our strong view is that any responsible media house or personality with such information has an obligation to report such cases and assist in every way possible in the fight against doping.
Athletics Kenya has consistently been in the forefront in combating the doping problem, through education, seminars outreach programs and support from relevant authorities. In the absence of any evidence or further information AK cannot therefore deny or confirm the credibility or otherwise of the allegations made and circulated in the media.
It is a criminal offense for a medical doctor to purposely inject an athlete with EPO for the express purpose of performance enhancement. In any event, it would be foolhardy for any athlete selected into the Kenya Team to even attempt the action alleged by Mr. Harm. The continued investigation by ADAK, AIU and maximum support from AK will eventually catch up to anyone with such intentions. Both Athletics Kenya and the Government of Kenya have zero tolerance to Doping and the systems which have been put in place by the AIU will eventually come through if indeed there is a doctor hell-bent on giving injections and tarnishing the name of Athletics Kenya and the entire Athletics fraternity.
Having stated the foregoing, and despite the good work which has been done by ADAK, WADA, AIU and AK, we are aware that in the past, there have been extremely malicious and unfounded allegations against the Athletics fraternity in Kenya whose intentions have been to belittle the vicious war against the doping and to damage the image of Athletics in the face of the World. These malicious individuals in making false accusations without offering any evidence at all will stop at nothing until they feel that they have achieved their ill-intions. It is sad that these allegations are being released on the eve of a World event in which Kenya is taking part and all we can read into this is an intention to embarrass Athletics Kenya and the Kenya Athletes for no good cause.
Since the enactment of the legislation which brought ADAK into being, Athletics Kenya does not carry out any sample collections, testing or obtaining results or results management in any way. Therefore, the allegation that Athletics Kenya is covering up positive doping tests from athletes and altering test results, is ridiculous to say the least and appears to be made by someone who clearly does not understand the current situation in Kenya. Nevertheless, we request the author of the report to avail to us or to the AIU the details concerning the alleged issue of cover-up.
Needless to state, ADAK is an independent body set up by Statute to independently manage anti-doping matters among other things. ADAK is the only body mandated to collect samples from athletes. Athletics Kenya has no role whatsoever in results Management other than education of the athletes. AK does not get in contact with sample collections, testing or any other issue concerning the same, it only receives results from AIU by way of information. It follows therefore that if a Federation is not responsible or involved in the results management, the allegation that money changes hands for covering results is nothing but a cheap lie.
We have seen circulating in the social media copy of a letter allegedly written by an official of Athletics Kenya. We understand that the same letter is posted on the website of ZDF. A simple examination of the letter shows that the rubber stamp imposed thereon has the name ‘Athetics Kenya’. It will be noted that the word Athletics is misspelt, and the letter ‘L” is missing. The letter is consequently a forgery – a very poor attempt indeed to forge the rubber stamp of Athletics Kenya. This shows the length to which these malicious persons will go in their attempt to tarnish the Kenya Athletics.
Athletics Kenya is not aware of any person who has written a letter to indicate that the Federation has the eligibility to secure freedom of any suspended athletes. Athletics Kenya has no mandate to secure freedom of any of our suspended athletes when the information is already in the records of the institutions that carry our investigations, legal process and finally suspension.
Finally, we would like to reiterate that Athletics Kenya has been and will continue to be at the forefront of fighting doping in conjunction with all other like-minded bodies and Authorities. We will continue our programmes of anti-doping seminars, outreach programs, campaign awareness, establishing Kenya Doctors Network and sanctioning any athlete found to have violated anti-doping rules. We have made it very clear that any athlete who has been sanctioned for breach of the code will not represent the Nation of Kenya in any competitions. During the selection of the team to the World Championship in Doha, Athletics Kenya did not select any athlete who did not meet IAAF conditions as concerns doping matters.
We welcome any information or assistance which will assist us in any way in our fight against doping.
Issued at Doha this 23rd day of September 2019.
Lt. General (Rtd) Jackson Tuwei
President Athletics Kenya
*Rusland kan opnieuw geschorst worden voor Olympische Spelen
Rusland zou zomaar opnieuw geschorst kunnen worden voor de Olympische Spelen. Het wereldantidopingbureau WADA start namelijk een nalevingsprocedure tegen Rusada, het Russische dopingagentschap.
In data die Rusada begin dit jaar na veel gesteggel heeft afgestaan, zijn tegenstrijdigheden aangetroffen, zo meldt het WADA. Rusland krijgt drie weken de tijd om de zaak op te helderen.