Rhonex Kipruto suspended

cudos for saying IF he is doping.

track is at a crossroads, like in cycling with armstrong.

at armstrong's time EVERYONE with any kind of connection knew that the whole tour was drugged to the eyeballs,

kenya is the tip of the iceberg.

jamaica women and south africa are next.

and the usa, they're going to pop a lot with new protocol.

with the recent bust of Bol, his portfolio wasn't super suspect.

but this fellow, with the near 26 min flat 10k, the hereabout failures, the blood passport,

combined with more dirt, probably coming.

you probably have a bust that sticks.

we're all hoping it is a Bol type case.

with that said, if you are born into a scene where every body is doping, and that is the "fair" playing field, consider what kind of crime it is.

Robertson, he was facing bankruptcy, in this situation.

i'd like to think that i would have the balls to take PEDs in this type of situation, and not be a total broke sap.

Exactly. They all have been saying you are dead. I have known it wasn’t true.

Goddamn those dirty Keyans

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That’s a shame. 1 more down - 10,354 to go.

Brother I think you mean a hydra

As one unskilled in the art of evidence-based doping prosecution, I have a few questions about the ABP process that seem non-trivial and non-obvious, at least to me.

As stated on WADA’s ABP webpage: The fundamental principle of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) is to monitor selected biological variables over time that indirectly reveal the effects of doping, rather than attempting to detect the doping substance or method itself.

1. In the Kipruto case, did the AIU determine (perhaps through communication with the athlete & investigation outside the lab) that the adverse findings were less likely than so to be the result of diet and lifestyle changes?

2. Is the AIU even required to perform due diligence in this regard, or, once the ABP findings are released, must the athlete then prove (or meet an established standard) that the biological variable changes over time stem from factors other than doping?

3. One poster proclaimed that Kenyan juniors are doping at least to the extent that doping-related changes in future blood and urine panel results will be less detectable. While this may code like a spectral mashup of Ma’s Army obsession and The Turner Diaries, is there any documentation supporting this troubling assertion?

It's amazing to watch people play devils advocate with this when it's literally never the case that someone is innocent is being framed (well, opinions on recreational drugs positives is a separate issue). If the AIU is going after someone, there's no reason to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Of course the top guys are all doping lmao. It's not possible to compete with enhanced elites, the PEDs are simple way too effective. It's just a shame he got caught imho. Those talented Kenyan lads also deserve expensive sports doctors like the Americans, Europeans, etc - to get them through the tests.

True voice of Kenyan athletics, and a good example of why your country should have been banned long ago.

I know you got downvoted probably because it is too strongly worded but yes it is bizarre to call for a Kenya ban if you train there. Also it doesn’t reflect well on anyone who has nothing to lose to pile on someone at their lowest point. Why wasn’t this story told years ago? It’s pretty alarming on numerous levels. Why didn’t he go public/contact the AIU/World Athletics?

Jimmy Gressier meanwhile out and out accused Kiprutos agency and Savija of pushing drugs on their athletes. He claims Savija is French but it seems he’s Serbian, based out of Prague and has history in South Africa. All a little confusing tbh. He said the 26:24 was too fast for the sniff test in non-carbon shoes. I do quibble with the notion that France anti-doping is doing such a great job. Do we really know this? Certainly there are many Qs about the past French greats. It seems counter-intuitive to say the “clean” countries that never have busts are doing a great job, whereas the countries that have busts are not….

Can you provide a link to Gressier's comments? Meanwhile Brother Colm is maintaining that Kipruto is innocent (as is the manager).

O’Connell has denied any knowledge or involvement of the doping offence, describing Kipruto as a “clean” runner.

“I carefully choose who I work with and to whom I dedicate my energy,” O’Connell said in a statement, as reported by Athletics Weekly. “I know Rhonex is an honest young man and it hurts me to see him suffering now.
“Our strategy is to train hard, and that’s the only way we achieve results. I have said many times that I am in favour of systematically combating doping so that we can protect clean athletes like Rhonex.”
Kipruto’s manager Davor Savija also denied any involvement: “This is injustice,” he said. “We will, of course, fully co-operate and be totally transparent.”

irishtimes.com

Kenyan runner Rhonex Kipruto provisionally suspended for doping offence

World 10k record holder’s Irish coach Brother Colm O’Connell describes Kipruto as a ‘clean’ runner

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Interesting that his manager is based in Prague. The Prague 10K, half-marathon, and marathon winners must have produced more busts in recent years than any other city.

Yes, his manager Davor Savija is closely associated with the race organizer -

runczech.com

Our team - RunCzech

FG Forrest, a.s., www.fg.cz, 2023

Open link

and worked for them for many years.

Some names that raced in Prague and got caught: Joyce Chepkirui,
Keneth Kiprop Renju, Purity Rionoripo, Almahjoub Dazza, Purity Changwony...

Good comparisons. But I'd add that Kiprop and Kipruto are the normal cases insofar that the normal procedures were followed: AIU studied these two cases for months, made their preliminary decision, and published it (then DT and possibly CAS). Houlihan and Bol were opposite cases: Houlihan was dealt with behind closed doors all the way to and including CAS (published too late), and Bol's was leaked by Bol's team before the Australians (not the AIU) made up their mind (published too early).
That means that Kipruto's case is already more advanced than Bol's where we are still waiting for the Australian NADO's preliminary decision (and the Houlihan case was over before we heard about it). Therefore Bol's defense has a higher likelihood to succeed, while Kipruto's sounds somewhere between nonsensical (why would the baseline go down when you drink?) and cherry-picking (the defense only mentioned 2 of the alleged 4 suspicious data points not to mention 5 years of data, and then cited Tygart et al. out of context (like Team Houlihan)).

Finally I doubt that this is only about the 2018 and early 2020 data. That may be what the defense says, but is it true? It's May 2023 - other ABP cases took far less than three years after the last suspicious data point - see above the comment about cherry-picking.

They benefit from Kenya's landscapes, learn from Kenyan methods but don't want to compete against Kenyans. Literally speaking: altitude training became a thing worldwide because of what Kip Keino and his teammates did in '68. No major study of the sport can be done without including Kenyans. Remove Kenyans from the equation and the sport regresses.

I've always said that anyone who's spent time Rift Valley knows for a fact that Kenyan success isn't PED-driven. Those are the ones I'm calling out.

Your favourite journalist isn't the brightest bulb, Coevett. He repeatedly misnames ADAK as "adok" and writes:

Well researched.

Last year when I visited Iten, I chatted daily to the gate guards at St Patrick's school. Father Colm's house is just a stone's throw from the gates and the young athletes coached by Colm live together in another building. The priest and the athletes (sponsored by Adidas) are in permanent contact. It would have been extremely difficult for Rhonex to engage in doping secretly as living in such a closed environment means everything is seen by everyone. I think Rhonex is most likely guiltless.

As for the saga of the Polish (2:11:00) marathon runner's massage guy being assaulted by Rhonex, that seems totally out of character. As previously mentioned last year EVERYONE I met, right down to the humble porters at St Patrick's, had nothing but positive things to say about Rhonex. That weird story seems like a one off.

No, that would be Sean Ingle. But his phrase makes sense to me, even if it's a little clumsy. Kenyans have been gaming the ABP for years, but they are increasingly getting caught out by it.

theguardian.com

World 10km record holder Rhonex Kipruto suspended for suspected doping

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/seaningle

Rhonex Kipruto has been suspended for suspected doping offences in yet another serious blow to the reputation of Kenyan athletics

Open link

Oh give it a rest. The entire Kenyan pro running community is an utter fraud. I am sick of this crap about how humble and nice these cheats are. They are frauds. They have ruined the sport and cheated others. And it was obvious to anyone who knows anything about doping in sports. What disgusts me is the delusional rationalizations doping apologists came up with. We were told about a "culture of running." Or more laughable still, we were told there was some East African running gene. No other sports insults its own intelligence to that ridiculous degree. And this fraud goes all the way down to the junior level. It is so low rent and so lacking in dignity and self-respect that it is embarrassing. The sport was turned into a laughingstock.