Robin Schembera (German 800m runner): When Anti-Doping officials come to Iten, athletes jump the fence

Thank you Renato.

now compare your response to clear falsehoods coming from Robin Schembera, to that of Alberto Salazars. Salazar resorted to personal attacks and smears on the whistleblowers and dozens of Nike shills took over the message boards.

You simply addressed Ms. Schembera's claim directly and in a dispassionate voice.

No fence to jump wrote:

Thank you Renato.

now compare your response to clear falsehoods coming from Robin Schembera, to that of Alberto Salazars. Salazar resorted to personal attacks and smears on the whistleblowers and dozens of Nike shills took over the message boards.

You simply addressed Ms. Schembera's claim directly and in a dispassionate voice.

I do appreciate the way he/you engage. I've said that before, and I hope the message is still clear.

@Canova

My first post was about testing by each federation.

Like I said, the 2013 Federation Testing Data (https://wada-main-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/resources/files/wada_2014_anti-doping-testing-figures_full-report_en.pdf#page66) shows that the Kenyan federation performed 52 IC and 0 OOC tests.

You can look at table 22/ page 102 to look at the federation test data yourself.

I believe that there are OOC tests in Kenya. I know there are OOC tests in Kenya; like you say, that's how some have been caught. The data shows that they are performed by the IAAF, not the Kenyan Federation.

My second post then looked at IAAF testing data. The only available Data is from a year earlier, 2012. (here, segregated by nationality of tested athletes):

).

Kenya made up 15% of 2012 OOC testing Data, with 144 OOC urine tests (out of 960). 92 OOC blood tests, but in 2013, IAAF took only 20 blood samples total.

If we guess that IAAF is doing 15% of their 2013 OOC tests in Kenya, then that still gives us 271 tests (1800 OOC tests in 2013). No Data is available for 2014.

I suppose other federations could test their athletes training in Kenya. USADA went to Morocco to try to test Mo Trafeh.

As a final point, I want to make this clear. That you come on here makes you attract negative attention; people like me will call you out on contradictions and falsehoods.

I don't want anyone to think Kenya is the only problem...

...since we're talking about data...

-In Ethiopia: ONLY 3 OOC Blood tests!!!!!. They don't even have a NADO listed! (No entered data, not even a working lnk on WADA website!)

-Qatar had Blood tests, IC or OOC. only 13 OOC urine tests, 32 IC. No IAAF tests on Qatari athletes.

-Morocco had 15 IAAF Blood tests (over 7 athletes...), but performed only 3 urine tests themselves for everyone.

-USA has 43 IAAF testing pool athletes, but only 22 Blood tests were done.

-The IAAF took 250 blood samples in 2012. In 2013, they took 20!

Given the recent article about a decline in positive athletes, it is irrelevant when the testing strategies are changing so much year to year, and each nation is so inconsistent, relative to themselves and each other.

Clerk, I know AK didn't do any antidoping test, for the reason they don't have at the moment any specific agency.

However, the common belief is that in Kenya there are NEVER antidoping tests, when the reality is very much different.

What we have to see is how many tests there are, every year, in the Country. I met several times one pool of testers coming from South Africa, and a pool of Kenyan doctors, probably part of the IAAF antidoping agency, operating almost every week in Eldoret and Iten. This happened till the end of 2013, I don't know now how the situation is.

I don't care if the tests are operated by a National Agency, or IAAF agency or WADA. What I say is that Kenyan athletes (of course who is in the whereabouts) are frequently tested, or, based on my personal knowledge, WERE frequently tested, probably more than in the most part of western Countries.

About the fact explained by Schembera, this really happened, but is referred to a visit of antidoping (I think from WADA) in the HATC. The athletes escaping from the camp (not jumping any fence, but going out from a door on the opposite side) were all part of the Turkish team, at that period in HATC.

The problem is that there is a diffused idea about doping for the top kenyan athletes that I can't accept. I know there is some doping problem (and, I repeat, with athletes of second level, followed by Kenyan doctors and pharmacists, so without any involvmenet of foreigner managers), and maybe some athlete goes Kenya not only for training in altitude breathing the atmosphere of the best runners in the world, but also for being more free to use some banned substance. But I strongly deny the idea Kenyan athletes are widely doped, and that the main reason because foreigners going Kenya (I speak specifically about Iten) during winter is to have the opportunity to dope without tests.

About the contraction of the number of blood samples from 2012 to 2013, I think the main reason is that in 2012 there was still the need to collect a lot of blood tests for a selected Group of top athletes of endurance, in order to have enough data for building their biological passport.

When there is a biological passport, the athlete is no longer tested with blood, since the data provided by a test with urine only can be compared with the normal trend the athlete has during the last seasons.

So, in my opinion, a so low number of blood samples in 2013 means that IAAF didn't build any biological passport with new athletes, and that the BP are limited at athletes producing their data bases till the end of 2012.

I don't know the trend in 2014 and 2015, but of course seems to me that IAAF must again to increase the number of blood tests, in order to have data enough for building new BP, regarding many athletes of endurance risen at top international level during the last two years.