"But, uniquely, Sawe recently backed up those words by asking the Athletics Integrity Unit to test him as much as possible. You see, Sawe believed he could break the world record in Berlin in September. And he also understood that Kenya's abysmal doping record meant that success would be met with more raised eyebrows than a plastic surgeon's clinic in Hollywood. So the call went into the AIU. Test me. Repeatedly. Throw everything at it. My sponsors, Adidas, will pick up the bill."
"As Kenyans we have been challenged because of doping cases. So before the Berlin Marathon I was tested 25 times, blood and urine, around two or three times a week. And one day I was even tested twice first thing in the morning and late at night. In the end, hot weather put paid to Sawe's dreams of a world record. But his approach to the AIU tells you something about Kenya and doping."
Sabastian Sawe requested repeated testing from the Athletics Integrity Unit and sponsored extensive blood and urine checks to prove he was clean before the Berlin Marathon. He underwent about 25 tests, sometimes twice in one day; hot weather prevented his world-record bid. Kenyan doping has become routine, with Sheila Chelangat receiving a six-year ban for EPO amid little public reaction. Since the AIU began in 2017, 427 elite athletes have been sanctioned, 145 of them Kenyan. Russia follows with 75 sanctions, then Ethiopia and India with 20 each. Calls for a Kenyan ban have increased, though no evidence points to state-sponsored doping.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]