NOCK chairman Kipchoge Keino expresses concern over the increasing number of athletes doping

Rita Jeptoo was among the 33 Kenyan athletes to have failed a dope test in the last 3 years

The chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya(NOCK) Kipchoge Keino has expressed concern over the rising number of the country’s athletes doping and warned that the increasing number would cast a bad image on Kenya’s reputation at next year’s Rio Olympics.

Athletics Kenya had announced that they had suspended two athletes-800 metres athlete Agatha Jeruto Kimaswai and Josephine Jepkoech Jepkorir for a period of 4 and 2 years respectively for testing positive for a banned drug norandrosterone.

“Track and field has been our fort. But it is being eaten up by competition and now the scourge of doping threatens to crash it. It is bad that two more have been banned. Our youths have no place to hide because whenever they excel, many will try linking them to cheating,” Keino was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Jepkjoir was caught after her result positive from the Luanda race while Kimasawai had failed an out-of-competition test in April and was barred from competing until May 2019.

Since 2012, no less than 33 Kenyan athletes have failed dope tests and among them was the was the winner of the Boston and Chicago marathons Rita Jeptoo. At the World Championships in August Joyce Zakary and Francisca Koki Manunga were asked to go home after they failed their dope tests.

Athlete manager and agent Barnaba Korir said that the current trend wasn't great and felt that the athletes weren't the only ones who were involved in this.

"The trend is bad. Somebody should be held accountable for this. It is not the athletes alone who are involved. This is a syndicate beyond the runners and we must bring to book those who supply them and who advice them too," Korir said.