Kenyan athlete Wilson Kipsang banned for four years for doping violation

Former Kenyan athlete Wilson Kipsang has been banned for four years by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for violating the anti-doping rules. The decision of his ban was taken after the former marathon world record holder presented fake-photo evidence for the missed test on Friday. 

World Athletics stood firm on the decision as the body said that the 2012 Olympics bronze medalist failed thrice in presenting the original evidence between April 2018 and May 2019. And three back to back failures within the failure of 12 months leads to an automatic ban by the council. 

Kipsang had failed to appear for the test on May 17, 2019, because of an accident involving him and an overturned lorry for which he provided photographs as evidence. But the photos of the incident were found to be of August 19, 2019, three months later. 

“The World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal has banned long-distance runner Wilson Kipsang of Kenya for four years with effect from Jan. 10, 2020 for whereabouts failures and tampering by providing false evidence and witness testimony,” the AIU said in a statement. 

The 38-year-old Kipsang resorted to fraudulent and deceitful ways as he tried to mislead the authorities to delay the missed test. 

“The athlete engaged in fraudulent and deceitful conduct by providing deliberately misleading and false information to the AIU in an attempt to obstruct and delay the investigation into his explanation and/or prevent normal procedures from occurring, namely the recording of a Missed Test against him,” The AIU further said in its statement. 

Kipsang was served with a provisional suspension in January this year for hindering with the procedures of AIU by showcasing false documents, however, he still had the ‘Right to appeal’ to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Kipsang’s management also defended him by saying “no prohibited substance was ever found” and emphasised that there has been no sign of doping in the athlete. 

Kipsang is a bronze medalist in the 2012 London Olympics. Besides, he has also won Berlin, Tokyo and New York marathon events with a personal best of two hours, three minutes and 13 seconds. He is considered as the sixth fastest marathon runner in history.