The AIU came out today and confirmed Manangoi's suspension for whereabouts failures, which means the 2017 world champ in the 1500 is banned until December 2021.
I read over the case and his explanation for the missed tests are as follows.
Test 1: July 3, 2019
He was traveling back from the Pre Classic and his flight was delayed because his luggage was missing. His house key was in his luggage. He arrived back late on July 2 and said it was already past midnight (so technically July 3) by the time he realized he had to change his window (set for 8-9 a.m. at his training camp in Nairobi).
I was under the impression he still could have changed his window for that day even though it was after midnight when he arrived home. Seems preventable.
Test 2: November 12, 2019
Manangoi's window was 5-6 a.m. He says he was late returning from a night shift connected with his role with the Kenya Police Service since he got caught up in a traffic jam.
Test 3: December 22, 2019
Manangoi says he delegated responsibility for his whereabouts to someone else (not named) and they messed up the dates when he was traveling back from Germany. Thus his window was set at 5-6 a.m. on December 22 when he wouldn't be back in the country until 2:35 p.m.
I tend to believe his explanations (I'm not certain how frequent traffic jams are at 5 in the morning in Nairobi though). But believing him and believing that he should be cleared are two different things. He deserves blame here. Couldn't Manangoi have still changed his window in the first case?
We don't have all the details in the second case, but he was delayed over an hour by traffic at 5 in the morning? Where was he coming from? He probably should have given himself more time to get home.
The third one is the craziest thing to me. He's sitting on two missed tests yet he is still not updating his own whereabouts? I feel bad for the guy, but you have to take responsibility for your own whereabouts at that point. He put his faith in someone else and was let down. Once you have two missed tests, your #1 priority every day should be to make sure you don't have a third. That's a lot harder to do if you're trusting someone else will take care of everything for you.
https://twitter.com/aiu_athletics/status/1327283872191684608
Elijah Manangoi banned; says he missed one test due to traffic jam, another because a 3rd party failed to update it
Report Thread
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So he comes up with three wacky excuses, which you yourself point out the individual unlikelihood of in each case, but you 'tend to believe him'?
Maybe El K will come back and tell us how often there are traffic jams heading out of Nairobi at 4 am? -
But of course we know that you, Coevett, would “tend to believe him” if he were white. We know that.
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At least he has Kiprop vouching for his innocence. That will be enough for many people here.
Disturbingly.
https://twitter.com/KipropAsbel/status/1327286050729897986 -
Jackoo wrote:
But of course we know that you, Coevett, would “tend to believe him” if he were white. We know that.
Can you give an example of myself defending a white athlete for missing three tests? Or are you just salty at yet another top Kenyan busted? -
Coevett wrote:
At least he has Kiprop vouching for his innocence. That will be enough for many people here.
Disturbingly.
https://twitter.com/KipropAsbel/status/1327286050729897986
That's indeed the kiss of death. lol -
Guilty as charged.
End of.
Hopefully, we won't see him back in a few years time.
These arseholes should be getting lifetime bans.
More honest, clean athletes dudded. -
Guilty as charged. wrote:
Guilty as charged.
End of.
Hopefully, we won't see him back in a few years time.
These arseholes should be getting lifetime bans.
More honest, clean athletes dudded.
"arseholes" Coevett, is that you? -
Timmy never has whereabouts problems...he is always out in his potato field!
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YMMV wrote:
Timmy never has whereabouts problems...he is always out in his potato field!
Of course you know your racism has a home here so you express it freely. -
I don’t really care about doping but I get a kick out of people who say “I don’t think so-and-so is doping because he just was silly and missed 3 tests.” Literally the entire world goes to work for 8 hours a day; how hard is it for an athlete to be in one location for a single hour every day? There is zero reason anyone should miss 3 tests unless they are doping. Maybe the athletes are stupid but the managers/agents handling them are not.
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Dr Yuengling wrote:
I don’t really care about doping but I get a kick out of people who say “I don’t think so-and-so is doping because he just was silly and missed 3 tests.” Literally the entire world goes to work for 8 hours a day; how hard is it for an athlete to be in one location for a single hour every day? There is zero reason anyone should miss 3 tests unless they are doping. Maybe the athletes are stupid but the managers/agents handling them are not.
I think that’s a great way to view it. -
St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote:
Dr Yuengling wrote:
I don’t really care about doping but I get a kick out of people who say “I don’t think so-and-so is doping because he just was silly and missed 3 tests.” Literally the entire world goes to work for 8 hours a day; how hard is it for an athlete to be in one location for a single hour every day? There is zero reason anyone should miss 3 tests unless they are doping. Maybe the athletes are stupid but the managers/agents handling them are not.
I think that’s a great way to view it.
Agreed.
Jonathan, stop playing dumb. No excuses! Drug cheats out! -
Jonathan, you "tend to believe his explanations?" Come on, how gullible can you be? These are straight out of the doper's playbook of intelligence-insulting excuses.
What kind of idiot stores his house keys in checked baggage when flying? Middle-of-the-night traffic jams in Nairobi? Maybe he also has a Walmart receipt to back up his excuses, or he was really inside watching Monday Night Football, or his doorbell was broken, or he forgot to charge his phone, or he French-kissed a Canadian hooker, or it was his missing zygotic twin who was supposed to update his whereabouts?
Good riddance. -
Let's not forget that he had a very strange season last year, ending with him pulling out of Doha at the last moment.
Not to mention his brother George suffering an almost simultaneous drop in form.
This was a guy who boasted he was going to run 3:25 in Momaco the week after Kiprop was busted.
No doubt he's a doper, but the question is how much credibility Tim and coach Bernard Ouma have after this?
And apparently aside from George, there are over a dozen Manangoi siblings being groomed as world class 1500m runners. -
Traffic excuse.
I've got to use that one. -
Any ONE missed test is a huge red flag the athlete is trying to cheat the system. If they fear they may test positive they will just miss the test knowing they have a whopping 3 strikes. They feel invincible due to the drugs and even miss 3 tests and expect to get off like Coleman. NO EXCUSES acceptable for the obvious doper here.
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Yeah I kind of agree with this now. When the system was first introduced it was chaotic and a number of people didn't really understand it, there were teething errors and genuine mistakes. The system has been in place a while now and it is understood what the consequences are, people need to treat whereabouts (and updating ADAMS) like part of their job now as the person above said.
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Pro runners have two jobs:
1). Train and compete.
2). Be available at your scheduled drug tests.
You know how not to get caught in a traffic jam on the day of a test?
BE HOME the day before. It’s your job.....
Actually, it WAS your job..... at least for awhile. -
Why do you feel bad? I can’t comprehend how someone even misses one test. It’s really not that difficult to be somewhere for an hour each day.
And if you miss one, you clearly could have missed more. Kinda how nobody gets a DUI the first time they drive drunk. If you miss 3 tests, how many times were you actually not where you were supposed to be? 10-15? Enough where if you miss 3, you clearly are doing something illegal.
I think it’s fairly obvious that people who miss 3 tests don’t have enough faith in their own ability. They’ve realized it’s better to have success, miss 3 tests, give some BS excuse that works to convince the naive Mr. Gault than to never have had success at all. They obviously know they will fail the test and by just missing them, they can only proclaim innocence. Feels like the same tactic by refusing a breathalyzer when pulled over drunk.
Be better Jonathan and don’t feel bad or give the benefit of doubt to this cheat.