I find it hard to believe that every participant at Ngong was tested
I\'m sorry, that was a little misleading, what I was trying to get at was that every athlete was eligible for testing, in the same way that every athlete in the US championships was eligible, and that the testing decisions (by placing, random or target) were not made by Athletics Kenya, any more than USATF has a say in who gets tested.
Can you provide first hand accounts substantiating your claim that testing took place at the trials?
Athletics Kenya is a Member of the IAAF. To become a Member Athletics Kenya is obliged to put provisions into it\'s Articles of Incorporation that give the IAAF authority to conduct anti-doping controls at it\'s National Championships and any other event sanctioned by Athletics Kenya.
The Athletics Kenya Articles of Incorporation also authorize IAAF to conduct unannounced, random out-of-competition testing on the Registered Testing Pool at the IAAF\'s discretion although IAAF may delegate the testing to WADA, a national governmental agency or to the national body.
In the case of the USATF, Athletics Australia, and several others, IAAF does delegate to the national drug testing body (because that nation had the funds to set up a quango to administer the testing, USADA in the States and ASDA down under). In the case of AK (who can\'t even afford it\'s WADA contributions), IAAF and/or WADA do the testing.
Prize money at international competitions, like last weekends WXC Championships, is only paid if the athlete has two clean OOC tests in the 12 months before the competition in question in addition to whatever IC testing was done. Random is the wrong word for the OOC testing procedure unexpected is probably better, if you are in the Registered Testing Pool, you can guarantee that you will be tested at least twice in a 12 month period, and provisions exist (which you agree to when you register with IAAF) to test a athlete at IAAF\'s discretion, which could be daily, if IAAF chose to.
The athlete (or his agent) who has stumped up $11,700 for a 12 week course of Darbepoetin Alfa (in a country where the average annual income is ~$400) wouldn\'t get paid unless the 2 test results from WADA or the IAAF were clean. No excuses, and the tests would have to be conducted under the WADA protocols, certified to by the tester (in the AK case, WADA). A missed test could also disqualify you from prize money and three missed tests are interpreted as an admission of guilt. Prize money from the WXC races: Individual - US$30,000 for 1st, US$15,000 for 2nd, US$10,000 for 3rd, graduating down to US$3000 for a sixth place finish. Team - US$20,000 for 1st, US$16,000 for 2nd, US$12,000 for 3rd, graduating down to US$4000 for a sixth place finish.
Do I have firsthand proof that the IC and OOC testing was done? Yes, IAAF says they did. It\'s in their Competition Rules. Have you heard of an athlete\'s prize money not being paid from the 2004 WXC or the Athens Olympics? There\'s your proof.
Testing procedures are the same the world over, the only difference is that in the USA the testing is done by USADA who releases the results to IAAF an USATF, who choose to make the results public (one reason, and a good one, why USATF petitioned to be allowed to conduct testing through USADA), and in Kenya the testing is done by WADA/IAAF who only release the clean test results to AK, who choose not to publish their results.
Should WADA and/or the IAAF publish their clean testing results along with the dirty ones? That\'s a whole other subject.
What is also a whole other subject is the testing pools for American international athletes. Check out the USATF website for details of that. Not so hard to get away with it in the USA as you might think.