Norah Jeruto CLEARED

ABP in question. Rhonex Kipruto is the other big ABP case. If that falls apart ...

And just to balance things a little, AIU suspends another steepler (4th in Budapest):

The AIU has provisionally suspended Zerfe Wondemagegn (Ethiopia) for the Presence/Use of a Prohibited Substance (EPO).

Well that's disappointing. Will be interesting to see how she runs now though. Might have to come off whatever she was on now she knows people are on to her.

Words are difficult when you are that dumb.

And if you are going to accuse Peter Bol of cheating, don't be a coward, and write your name.

Why is it disappointing? I don't get this by you, or the dumbo above you. The athlete has been cleared. Do you want an innocent person to be punished?

Can someone tell The NY Times so Kenyan-born runners can get their reputation back?

I guess my comment is on this is an ABP case is like NFL replay review. If it takes more than a minute to decide in the NFL just stick with the call. If an ABP takes 2 years like this one, come on, it is likely going to fall apart upon scrutiny. And by fall apart I mean get overturned not prove anything about the athlete. But the goal is to build trust in the system, not try to nail every likely doper only to have the suspensions not stick.

Cheats gonna cheat. I'm not the problem here.

Bol was just lucky to have a manager who previously managed a cheating athlete and got their EPO positive overturned based on using lawyers and 'experts' to find doubt in the testing process.

The thing that didn't change was the both A samples from these cheats were positive for EPO. Cheats.

Lagat’s A sample was absolutely found to be a false positive. Educate yourself.

To me it is disappointing because four of the five consulted expert agreed that she was on Epo, and the fifth - thinking that it may have been Covid although the hospital said no Covid - had no prior ABP experience. That was enough doubt for the majority of the panel to let her get off. "cleared" is something else entirely.

Innocent until proven guilty.

If the specialists can't prove/ agree on what doping is then, the Onus is on them.

You cant just go around throwing allegations without concrete proof

the drugs are either there or they aren't. its not a spectrum

perhaps they need to set clearer guidelines on what ABP parameters are

i've always thought that banning based on ABP as a fishing expedition

This is all I’m saying, too. Like the Bol decision, be very sure of what you charge.

If I recall correctly, the suspension was based on ABP values deemed well outside normal variation. I believe the AIU notice mentioned EPO but I doubt it's even that sophisticated, what we're probably looking at is autologous blood transfusions...hence the ulcer explanation getting this cleared.

As far as I know autologous blood transfusions are undetectable, hence the onset of the ABP.

In Rhonex's case, it does not specify EPO, just "prohibited substance/method". It's possible the AIU is getting closer to being able to detect autologous blood transfusions but aren't quite there yet.

I should have read the article first.... It does sound like that's what they (the AIU) were alleging and perhaps using low doses of epo to replenish red blood cells after extractions?

There's also the Rodgers Kwemoi ABP case still pending.

Yes, all of AIU's experts concurred that she used Epo (and blood withdrawals to prepare blood transfusions), as detailed in the decision (not the article). See for example under point 41:

"We therefore conclude that it is highly likely that a prohibited substance such as EPO has been used..."

That also shows that the AIU was sure to have a good case, because all experts agreed pre-trial.

Thus point 43:

"AIU's case was, therefore, that the ABP results in relation to

a. Samples 13-15 and 25

b. Samples 17-19

were evidence of blood doping and therefore gave rise to breaches of Article 2 ADR."

The 13-15 to 25 thing to be honest was an overreach I think. To conclude someone is doping because you think they took blood out to dope in the future is thin. That they couldn’t definitively prove that one without an instance in time where it was suggested she was blood doping doesn’t surprise me.

The high off scores, yes they thought was this evidence of dosing EPO at relatively low levels. The COVID/illness explanation was plausible enough for a doctor which did in the case. It also seems in retrospect they were trying with no success to catch her in 2021-2, and it just didn’t pan out. The fact that those are the two best years of her career signifies either the tests are insufficient to catch microdosing even with consistent targeting or she wasn’t cheating and they were somewhat reaching.