Jakob Igebrigtsen asked if Kenya should be banned from athletics. Here is his answer.

Problem with that its near impossible to prove state sponsored doping. With Russia there were allegations but never proven. And what if it is state sponsored doping? Its no different than private sponsored doping. What you can never prove is if the actual individual is doping or not from 1000s of athletes. Since Russia is already banned, I could tell you there should be 2 dozen additional countries that should be banned as well. Right now its clown world stupidocity.

Kenya should certainly be banned. That's one of the countries.

Escrow part of appearance fees and prize money until samples tested and retested a la London 2012. It's always about money

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That stat sponsored doping phrase is used because it favors the usa. But generally its meaningless. Whats the difference between Nike doping all their athletes or some state doctor?

Your argument makes more sense than Coevett’s but still falls short. The crux has always been you can’t use positive tests as both evidence that the problem isn’t being addressed and that it is. It would be MORE concerning if after ramping up testing there were fewer positives. That is not what we are seeing, and that would be more like Russia where there was collusion to cover up cheating. Right now there is a major increase in B/C-level athletes getting popped because they are being targeted/tested more. At the top of the sport, testing has seemingly either worked as a deterrent or athletes have dialed it back to the level that we all acknowledge might be impossible/hard to catch. This also ties in to a couple of the ABP cases that maybe like Kiptum’s or might be overreaches like the disciplinary tribunal just ruled with Jeruto.
Anyhow, the elephant in the room for Jakob and any other athlete commenting is that clean or not the incentives are to say the problem is not being addressed adequately. Makes you look tough on doping, clean, while insinuating some of your rivals may be dirty. I don’t begrudge him just stating a fact. Ultimately, the closest Kenyan to him Kipsang is almost 2 seconds slower than him (Silesia) so if he thinks Kipsangs doping and he’s clean, again Jakob has a great opinion of himself (which I know he does)

The nuance here is that Jakob clearly implies testing works for him/his family but not for Kenyans. Don’t believe me? His own brother was “likely doping” on the Fancy Bears hack and there’s no discussion of that from him or the author. He doesn’t feel the need to say “I am clean, even though the testing system is broken and can be beaten.” So you can’t stand by testing/the system “proving” you and your family are clean, and then insinuating it fails for an entire country who in some cases may be tested more frequently than you. Also if he thought testing itself wouldn’t work he’d talk more about the process than the discipline. What it seems to me is his real argument are the deterrents to doping are not great enough to stop some Kenyan athletes. Which is totally fair to me. But I would also say for a 13:10 5k European runner in university with no primary shoe sponsor, the deterrents aren’t very strong to microdosing as well. Let’s just note that.

EDIT: your timeline with Manangoi/Tim remains nonsensical as Tim beat Jakob twice in 2020 I believe post-ban (including 3:28.45 in Monaco). Despite dealing with injury issues, he beat him multiple times in 2021.

I have always wondered. What if they ban Kenya then what happens to the athletes of Kenyan origin competing for many different countries.You see,almost every European country participating in an athletics competition nowadays has an athlete or several of Kenyan origin representing them.Same with Asian countries and many other countries across the globe.Offcourse NCAA has been dominated by athletes of Kenyan origin for many years since the days of Henry Rono. So say they ban Kenya ,do they also ban athletes of Kenyan origin too? Or how do they go about it?It's not not simple as those calling for it think now is it? that's why I think those that have been pushing the ban are either very myopic and simplistic or just approaching it from a xenophobic or even racist angle.In my view the current approach by iaaf and WADA and others is well calculated and effective and it will bear fruits in the longterm. We just need to be patient it will work.

Glad you've finally worked that out in your usual meandering logical route, when it was obvious to everybody else immediately what Jakob was saying.

Manangoi was still (illegally) training with Tim throughout his suspension. Manangoi posted that fact several times on his Instagram and El K re-posted the evidence here. Only last year did Manangoi leave the Rongei camp.

Manangoi was suspended for whereabouts failures I.e failing to show three times.And No he wasn't training with Tim during his suspension infact he was shunned by his coach and former training mates at Rongai athletics club headed by coach Ouma who is not only an IAAF endorsed coach but also a distinguished lecturer of sports science at Kenyatta University. Argue your case but don't make up facts to bolster your arguments. If there is one thing this topic has done is expose alot of ignorance especially regarding Kenyan elite athletes and Kenyan running in general.

High-sham El G. was as dirty as they come.

Your 2nd paragraph info is blatantly false, but anyhow if you can’t see that Jakob is at a different level than all the Kenyans at this point I don’t know what to tell you. It does not mean Jakob is dirty, it does not mean they are clean. It does mean if they are dirty and Jakob IS clean, that he has a major edge in terms of training and/or talent or that their doping regimens are making a marginal impact. It is a double standard to me the way you default to certain athletes as dirty/clean almost purely by nationality, so I will always call it out.

Admittedly, it would be rather satisfying to see Alex Rodriguez put in prison for the rest of his life and forced to disgorge the billion dollars or so that he's made from his sport, but the U.S. Congress has made clear that severe punishments should be imposed only on foreign violators involved in low-revenue-producing sports.

jakob would be faster if he wore YEEZYS but hes just mad that im fly he slow, beaten by jake whiteman. good on him for knowing his place tho

State protection obviously. State sanctioned doping means the entire national system is behind it, and you will never get caught by any national doping agencies (not that there are any in Kenya). Not to mention it would be a lot easier to skirt international testing if you had the weight of the entire state covertly aiding your doping.