During a morning session at a training camp, in Iten (Kenya), June 5, 2023. WANG GUANSEN/XINHUA-REA
In the still sleepy town of Iten, samplers from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), an independent body responsible for the fight against doping in athletics, appear in front of the Kechei gate Center, one of the most renowned training centers in Kenya: “We have come to carry out an unannounced test on Joan Chelimo. » Naturalized Romanian, the athlete of Kenyan origin won the Paris half-marathon in March and the Seoul marathon in 2022. It is over this distance that she is aiming, at the age of 33, for an Olympic medal at the Olympic Games, Saturday August 10 in Paris.
The marathon runner, crowned European vice-champion in the half-marathon, in Rome on June 9, is dozing in her room. In order to avoid any manipulation, she is followed to the toilet to take a urine sample which will then be sent to a laboratory in Lausanne (Switzerland) where it will be analyzed within twenty days. If Joan Chelimo, controlled “once or twice a month in addition to competitions”, has no news, she will pursue her Olympic dream. If she receives an email or a call from the AIU, her sample will be positive for a prohibited substance and she will be excluded from any official competition. “Tests like this morning are essential to fight against dopingshe assures. We should also increase them at training sites because that is where we can catch the maximum number of cheaters. »
Since 2016, Kenya (including Belarus, Ethiopia and Morocco) has been classified in category A of countries under surveillance by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Threatened in 2022 to be excluded by the International Athletics Federation, this flagship long-distance and middle-distance nation, which has seen the birth of legendary athletes, and which shares with Ethiopia most of the world records, s is launched into a frantic race to try to stem the scourge. “We will spare no effort to protect the integrity of sport”warned Kenyan President William Ruto in January 2023. The country’s image is at stake. On the highlands of the Rift Valley, athletics is as sacred as a lion du Masai Mara.
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The government has committed to spending 25 million dollars (23 million euros) over five years to finance the fight against doping. Trained by the AIU, dozens of agents were recruited. From Eldoret, capital of Uasin Gishu County, to Kaptagat via Iten, where the main training centers are located, samples have increased threefold in one year among the elite and fivefold at the level of the immense reservoir made up of national runners. The results were not long in coming. In February, the AIU announced that 44 new Kenyan athletes, including athletes but also swimmers and footballers, tested positive. They were sentenced to sanctions ranging from one year of suspension to life exclusion.
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2024-06-12 04:00:22
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