Huge age cheating scandal discovered in Kenya for last year's World Jrs

None of this is new. I remember looking at African "junior" runners 40 years ago that looked like they were bordering on young grandpa ages.

It was always wrong to reduce the East African advantages to just the one factor of genetics.

Coevett is partly right to consider other factors like the altitude environmental, as well as lighter bodyweights of mature adults.

However, all this talk about "age cheating", might make sense for junior world competitions, but the fact remains that a higher quantity of East African seniors are significantly faster than the rest of the world combined.

I also don't believe that the best juniors from other countries are discouraged when they are the best in their country.

Not sure how you can claim it's quite leap to assume so. Not that I am assuming it, but I do think, as I clearly stated, the odds are better than even.

So we know that age cheating has been rife in Kenya, that 30 are currently under investigation, including Olympians. Wanyonyi ran 1:43 at altitude, at '17 years and 3 weeks old' to win the World Juniors by almost a second. Last Year he won the Olympics and almost broke the WR after just turning 20. He looks much older, his coach has the most athletics busts of any coach in history (at least who is still active I presume). Yet you think it's a stretch to suspect him?????????????

Yes, I meant Frederico Rosa.

https://apnews.com/381ca466a78e4fc1b00ed267b4f0a253

Regarding his progression since 17, the big improvement was obviously last year, when all the top guys were knocking 2 or 3 seconds off their pbs thanks to the Muertons gel. Before that he improved less than 1 second from 17-19 (and that 1:43.7 was at altitude, so time wise, he arguably didn't improve).

His progression thus far is entirely consistent with him being at least 3 or 4 years older than his stated age.

When I see an East African in a race I just assume they are a cheater.

I think this is misleading. Altitude like 5,000 ft is marginal on a native altitude athlete at 800. 2022 simply had few fast races but he finished 4th in Eugene and performed well all year. Big 1s improvement in 2023 to 1:42-high and silver then last year as you say in time and wins.

I agree with you his age might be off but where we differ is you are assuming 3+ years and he’s in his mid-20s. I’m not so sure.

What a glorious and happy day that was for all the rekbots!

butt...at another angle it becomes interesting......

because we usually say that over 40 its game over.

i really wonder how old kipchoge is. no way he younger than me...and im 43...

i think its fair to say he is about 5 years older than his passport say...

i think his breakthru came when he was around 25. at paris 2003, rite? he prolly used PEDs up to that point. and became more careful after that...

So given so many Kenyan's lie about the age of their young talent does this mean we should be investigating the new young talent that come into the NCAA??? Could there possibly be situations where the athletes have no eligibility??? What say you all?

I'm Shocked! I'm shocked I tell you!

The fact remains that a higher quantity of East African seniors have been busted for doping than the rest of the world combined.

I'm not so sure that is a fact. I think Russia is still leading the overall country count. It stands to reason that winners are tested more, resulting in more busts. Due to the high quantity of high quality athletes, Kenyans are easy targets for exploitation from both local doctors and chemists, and foreign coaches.

There doesn't seem to be rules around this? As evidenced by 25-28 year old Kenyans coming in as NCAA Freshman. I don't think many of these athletes are lying about their age unless you really think they're secretly 30+, which would mean they spent much of their 20s not running.

So what was soccer's solution?

Oh poor Kenyans!

You can’t ever concede a point, even when the facts are staring you in the face. The increase in Kenyan positives is due exclusively to the fact they were finally being tested out of competition. Your claim that winners are tested more as an excuse is belied by your non-stop insistence that nearly every Kenyan positive in the last ten years is from a sub-elite level athlete (i.e., not a “winner”). You need to create a spreadsheet to help keep your excuses straight. You’re contradicting yourself way too much these days.

To be honest, this is why I wasn't an Edward Cheserek fan initially. I thought it was a joke that a likely overaged HSer was destroying every US HS record and being praised for it. Now him dominating college didn't really bother me as there is a long history of overaged men dominating both white (BYU) and black.

Which facts? I cannot concede a point that is not factual, presented with no supporting data. By my count of nearly three decades of quality performances, East Africans outperformed the rest of the world by a factor of 11x in the distance events from 1500m to the marathon, while nations like Russia lead the doping bust count by far.

Some of these sub-elite Kenyans are still winning low level races where they get tested or enter them into the testing pool. One fact I am missing is whether the percentage of Kenyans doping is above the world-wide average.

The AIU gave me some facts that says the out of competition testing has been increased as the number of athletes in the RTP (designated as potential winners) has dramatically increased. A fact that WADA gave me is that most athletes are caught each year by in-competition urine tests.

At WADA's website, you can find two reports with more facts about Kenyan doping, with both concluding the significant role of local doctors and chemists exploiting the Kenyans, as well as the need for educating athletes and their doctors on the athlete's anti-doping obligations, and how to give standard care for common injuries from training, and for diseases like malaria.

Here’s a fact: doping works, even for your precious Kenyan elites.

Here’s another: until 2014, Kenyans were not tested out of competition anywhere near the extent that western athletes were.

Here’s one last fact: no country has had more positive tests in the last five years than Kenya. Not even close.

“Huge age cheating scandal discovered in Kenya for last year's World Jrs”

No, really?

😂