|
NAIROBI, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Kenya team of over 60 athletes at the Rio Olympics will pass through the anti-doping tests without any problem, the country' s Olympic boss said on Wednesday.
Kipchoge Keino, chairman of the National Olympics Committee of Kenya, said they have sensitized the team and done monitoring of their performances and training and is certain, they will have no problems in Rio as the world congregates in the Brazilian city for the games starting on August 5.
"It will be frustrating and bad for us if our athletes are implicated in fresh doping scandal. We have the most tested bunch of athletes and they have passed each stage of testing placed before them. Kenya is sending to Brazil a clean team," he said in Nairobi.
Keino also confirmed that they have organized a training related to anti-doping in Eldoret as part of efforts to inform the athletes on doping questions and consequences ahead of the Games.
"The key thing about doping is education of the athletes. We have and will continue providing that education to athletes," Keino said. Over 40 doping cases have been reported from Kenyan athletes in the last four years.
But the majority so far have been lower-level runners who haven't won major titles with the exceptions of marathon champion Rita Jeptoo (Chicago and Boston), Mathew Kisorio, Agnes Jeruto and two-time cross-country world champion Emily Chebet are among those banned who are elite.
Kenya's anti-doping program is currently declared non-compliant by WADA and that does not mean the country' s clean athletes should also be banned.
In June, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) told International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to test individual athletes in Kenya to make sure they are clean before Rio.
That has led to over four tests done to the athletes in the last three weeks they have been in training in Eldoret. Enditem
