Source: Spe15 (France)
Elijah Manangoi was suspended for two years because of three failed doping controls. He is the 2nd world champion sanctioned for this reason in two months. And the 139th Kenyan to be suspended for doping…
It appears that this athlete may have been wrongly convicted through no fault of his own and hopefully he will have legal recourse to revise his case with the appropriate law officials and understanding of the Kenyan Athletics Federation.
Almost every month Kenya sets a sad new record for the number of suspended athletes. And not the least! Elijah Manangoi joins this sinister list of Kenyans implicated in doping acts. They are to date more than 50 banned from competition and they have been sanctioned 138 since 2008. With him, it is again a world champion who is sacked.
And to think that the theory of too many Kenyan specialists was that doping hit the "underlay", understand athletes without too much talent, but so greedy for money that they took questionable shortcuts.
Brother Colm, the emblematic Irish priest who became a benchmark coach in Iten, especially thanks to David Rudisha, was one of them, and he thus underlined in 2015, when the doping cases started to emerge, that they mainly concerned intermediate level athletes, and road runners.
But these arguments exploded in full flight, and over the months, it is track specialists and showing very large records who have joined this cohort of banned.
The most recent, Elijah Manangoi, confirms this trend, he had the world title conquered in 2017, and a personal best of 3’28’’80, which placed him in the top 11 of all time.
7 suspensions for missed checks
The Manangoi case is also very emblematic of the Athletics Integrity Unit's desire to track down questionable athletes by using all the legal arsenal at its disposal, and in particular that of failed anti-doping controls.
Three failed tests between July and December 2019, and Elijah Manangoi leaves through the back door. As was the case this year for Christian Coleman, Wilson Kipsang, Alfred Kipketer, Deajah Stevens, Alex Korio Oliotiptip, Michelle Lee Ahye. The IAU has also decided to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the acquittal of Salwa Aid Naser.
The time for pretense seems over, and the IAU no longer appears willing to accept all these phony excuses given by athletes to justify their shortcomings. Especially since some seem to be "copy-pasted" from one folder to another. For example, the argument of delay due to a traffic jam can be found at Manangoi, as at Wilson Kipksang at the start of the year.
From now on, the IAU also insists on the responsibility imposed by a star status in athletics, which requires real professionalism which also includes good management of location constraints. And thus rejects pseudo alibis, like that of Manangoi who maintains that his injury has affected his mental health, that he suffers from outbursts of anger, and loss of memories ...
No more unannounced checks
The AIU's new strategy is also based on an increase in unannounced tests, with 7,772 in 2019, compared to 6,007 the year before. And on the new possibility of controlling an athlete at any time, including outside the scheduled time on his whereabouts, which thus caused the downfall of Christian Coleman.
Does a suspension for missed tests have less "mouth" than a positive control? This is the view of some anti-doping experts, but pragmatism prevails at the IAU, as three no shows still lead to a two-year suspension. Admittedly, it is not the 4 years that a positive athlete receives, but these two years can precipitate a career stoppage, and an exit by the back door.
This shorter sanction also justifies the athletes' risk-taking, to point out to absent subscribers that their course of doping products has not yet been completed, and that their analyzes show them that all traces of the products have not disappeared. The choice of temporary disappearance then becomes a good strategy especially when one is only 27 years old like Elijah Manangoi, or 24 years old like Christian Coleman, and a comeback after two years seems very possible.
Kenyans are annoyed by this harassment
In Kenya, this cat and mouse game is particularly irritating, with the theory of harassment carried out against Kenyan athletes, since they are already 4 this year sanctioned for this reason, against 3 in the rest of the world. The Kenya Athletics Federation claims they are falling because of their ignorance of the rules, and since July it has rolled out an app that can be downloaded to phones, and translated into Kiswhahili, to help keep locations up to date.
Of course, we will not prevent that like all athletes suspended for no shows, Elijah Manangoi screams his innocence, and claims all goes that he is "clean" and has never resorted to doping. But the verbal posturing will quickly fade ... The decisions will remain
Manangoi ban - tragic. Was he unjustly convicted?
Report Thread
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It seems Elijah genuinely has a case that should be reviewed. It also seems that most Kenyans agree that his failure to show up for the testing should not result in a two-year ban. Processing cases speedily is laudable but not until all avenues have been explored and due diligence accomplished. Reasonable doubt cannot be shown in this case, up until now. This is really tragic for this athlete.
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Source: The Star (Kenya news)
2018 African 1500m champion Elijah Manan’goi has admitted responsibility for his whereabout failure that led to his 2-year doping ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit.
Manangoi, the 2017 World 1500m champion, accepted AIU’s verdict and apologised to athletics stakeholders and Kenyans at large for betraying their trust.
“I have accepted their decisions (AIU) though it will be difficult to forgive myself. I am sorry for disappointing my country, Athletics Kenya, my management, my coach, and all whom I have betrayed their trust,” Manang’oi said in a Facebook post.
Manan'goi vowed to come back stronger after the lapse of his ban on December 21, 2021.
“I’m a clean athlete and I will be back on the track and win right,” he said.
He further urged fellow Kenyan athletes to be cautious of the whereabout requirement, which is increasingly becoming a snare for many.
“It seems simple but a slight mistake can be costly at the end, It’s shameful,” Manan'goi said.
Manan'goi was handed the ban after missing three consecutive doping tests in 2019 due to whereabout failures on July 3, November 12, and December 22.
The whereabout requirement dictates that an athlete earmarked for random doping tests should be at a specified location of their choice within a 60-minute time slot that the athlete fills in the Anti-Doping Administration Management Systems — also known as ADAMS.
This information can be changed by the athlete or his/her designated person whenever the location and the time slot change.
In Manan'goi’s case, AIU says that the athlete was missing from his specified location of Rongai Nazarene when anti-doping officers arrived to test him at the time slot of 8-9 p.m.
“The AIU confirmed that the athlete’s explanation failed to demonstrate that no negligence on his behalf caused or contributed to his failure to be present and available for testing at his designated time slot,” AIU said.
Manan'goi’s competitive results since December 22, 2019 stand nullified as a result of the ban and will be required to forfeit any medals, titles, appearance money, points prizes, and awards earned during this period. -
Ghost1 wrote:
Source: Spe15 (France)
The IAU has also decided to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the acquittal of Salwa Aid Naser.
Yes! Let's hope for the best! -
Ghost1 wrote:
It seems Elijah genuinely has a case that should be reviewed. It also seems that most Kenyans agree that his failure to show up for the testing should not result in a two-year ban. Processing cases speedily is laudable but not until all avenues have been explored and due diligence accomplished. Reasonable doubt cannot be shown in this case, up until now. This is really tragic for this athlete.
You are joking, right? Fact: his case was reviewed, which resulted in the ban. J. G. linked the decision in the other thread. -
casual obsever wrote:
Ghost1 wrote:
It seems Elijah genuinely has a case that should be reviewed. It also seems that most Kenyans agree that his failure to show up for the testing should not result in a two-year ban. Processing cases speedily is laudable but not until all avenues have been explored and due diligence accomplished. Reasonable doubt cannot be shown in this case, up until now. This is really tragic for this athlete.
You are joking, right? Fact: his case was reviewed, which resulted in the ban. J. G. linked the decision in the other thread.
You’re right and I have to review it seems that a E.M. has no legal recourse to contest the decision. I believe he will be eligible to return to competition at the end of 2021 which is not that far away but it remains to be seen whether he has the psychological and physical ability to do so. Asbel Kiprop supports him but presumably others will write him off.
The tragedy of these cases is that crossing the line or not crossing the line with prohibited products, athletes like this did not need to take shortcuts to reach the very pinnacle of success. Some athletes wish to reach the top quicker and succumb to pressure.
Elijah Manangoi - not sure what the future holds for him. -
Coevett wrote:
Ghost1 wrote:
casual obsever wrote:
Ghost1 wrote:
It seems Elijah genuinely has a case that should be reviewed. It also seems that most Kenyans agree that his failure to show up for the testing should not result in a two-year ban. Processing cases speedily is laudable but not until all avenues have been explored and due diligence accomplished. Reasonable doubt cannot be shown in this case, up until now. This is really tragic for this athlete.
You are joking, right? Fact: his case was reviewed, which resulted in the ban. J. G. linked the decision in the other thread.
You’re right and I have to review it seems that a E.M. has no legal recourse to contest the decision. I believe he will be eligible to return to competition at the end of 2021 which is not that far away but it remains to be seen whether he has the psychological and physical ability to do so. Asbel Kiprop supports him but presumably others will write him off.
The tragedy of these cases is that crossing the line or not crossing the line with prohibited products, athletes like this did not need to take shortcuts to reach the very pinnacle of success. Some athletes wish to reach the top quicker and succumb to pressure.
Elijah Manangoi - not sure what the future holds for him.
If Tokyo is cancelled altogether and next season disrupted again like this year, then he will end up missing virtually nothing.
Another weird thing about him last season was that interview he gave, before he even got injured I think, claiming that he was considering moving up to the marathon (a former 400m runner).
Surely you must believe that most of the top Kenyans dope? (well, actually, it's pretty much a confirmed, objective fact at this stage). Even if, as you appear to suggest above, that doping only makes a small difference, the biggest loser from Manangoi's cheating was Tim, who was narrowly pipped to gold medals. Shouldn't you be angry on his behalf, rather than calling it a tragedy without reason?
It should also be noted that Manangoi was previously coached by Colm O’Connell.
I assume English is not your first language as you do not understand what English words mean. You think it is a confirmed objective fact that most of the top Kenyans dope. Please try to learn the English language before your next post. You can do it! -
cool story
who cares -
Jackoo wrote:
You think it is a confirmed objective fact that most of the top Kenyans dope.
I have to agree with Coevett here. This is a direct conclusion of two facts:
1) In the only comprehensive study to date, likely more than 44% of world championship athletes were reported to dope. Almost half, or more.
2) Kenya is ranked as one of the four most likely to dope countries by the IAAF. Much worse than average.
Noting that almost half or more of the world championship athletes dope, and Kenyans are among the worst offenders, clearly more than half of them dope. -
casual obsever wrote:
Jackoo wrote:
You think it is a confirmed objective fact that most of the top Kenyans dope.
I have to agree with Coevett here. This is a direct conclusion of two facts:
1) In the only comprehensive study to date, likely more than 44% of world championship athletes were reported to dope. Almost half, or more.
2) Kenya is ranked as one of the four most likely to dope countries by the IAAF. Much worse than average.
Noting that almost half or more of the world championship athletes dope, and Kenyans are among the worst offenders, clearly more than half of them dope.
Very unlikely, in my opinion, that most of the top Kenyans dope. Open controls have increased dramatically of the past few years and very few Kenyans have been nabbed is one indication that probably very few Kenyans at the top level dope. With these types of arguments we could go round in circles for hours without any verifiable conclusion either way. However, coming out with a blanket statement such as “most top Kenyans dope” does not seem reasonable. Conversely, it would be wrong to state that “none of the top Kenyans dope” so it works both ways.
By the way, it is unfortunate for the Irish priest in Iten to be implicated with some of these people. Indirectly, of course, it seems. -
Well 2 out of the top 3 fastest Kenyan 1500m runners of recent years have been busted, and the latest is the close training partner of the other one. 3 (or 4) out of the top 11 marathon runners, 3 out of 7 if the male medal winners in London 2017 already busted. At least four top 800m runners busted in the last couple of years. Even the fastest 400m guy busted. And it"s getting almost exponential as testing standards start to approach Western standards.
I'd say that for the majority of objective observers, this is confirmed evidence that most top Kenyans dope. To be honest, it would be reasonable to suspect that virtually all top Kenyans dope, just as it's reasonable to suspect that virtually all top Russians dope, or that virtually all GDR athletes doped back in the day, or for that matter, that virtually all American and Jamaican (and possibly British) sprinters dope. -
Coevett wrote:
Even the fastest 400m guy busted.
This is a lie. -
Ghost1 wrote:
Very unlikely, in my opinion, that most of the top Kenyans dope.
Are you arguing against fact 1 or fact 2? -
Its not tragic. Whats tragic is the low number of athletes being busted.
An anonymous survey of track athletes at the 2015 world champiuonships suggested that 57% of the athletes admitted to doping before the championships
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/29/sport-doping-study-revealing-wider-usage-published-after-scandalous-delay -
So 57% of the competitors were on dope and only 2% were busted. That is the definition of tragic. In part it means that IAAF, WADA and IOC are not serious about busting dopers.
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casual obsever wrote:
Ghost1 wrote:
It seems Elijah genuinely has a case that should be reviewed. It also seems that most Kenyans agree that his failure to show up for the testing should not result in a two-year ban. Processing cases speedily is laudable but not until all avenues have been explored and due diligence accomplished. Reasonable doubt cannot be shown in this case, up until now. This is really tragic for this athlete.
You are joking, right? Fact: his case was reviewed, which resulted in the ban. J. G. linked the decision in the other thread.
+1 -
The only thing tragic is he wasn’t caught red handed and given a longer ban.
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Indeed tragic. Note also from your reference:
The authors also explored a host of scenarios under which the athletes might not have answered the doping question truthfully, or otherwise not complied. “In the great majority of those different scenarios it turns out we would have undershot the actual value,” said Harrison Pope Jr, a co-author of the study from Harvard University, adding that that suggests doping was likely more prevalent than the results suggest.
So the real numbers are, most likely, higher than the 43 - 57%. Well, that's not exactly a surprise. -
I'm interested in what you all think - do you think it was always like this (in recent memory anyway) or do you think it is more recent?
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Agree that it’s tragic—tragic that he didn’t get a lifetime ban.
