Antti Pihlakoski believes that the peak of Kenya’s doping cart has already been seen.
Antti Pihlakoski believes that the pinnacle of Kenya’s carting has been reached. PASI LEISMA
– If the situation doesn’t improve, we won’t be watching for an awful long time, member of the board of the International Association of Athletics Federations (WA) Antti Pihlakoski grant.
Kenya is a great country of athletics, but also a crown of sorrows. In recent years, so many doping cartels have come to light in Kenya that the country has a yellow card.
It means what Pihlakoski stated at the beginning. Posture movement or out of international competitions.
WA and the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which oversees the ethics of athletics, have expanded doping controls at mass running events. Athletes from countries under observation are especially invited to the doping test.
Doping investigations aim to find out who is running the operations.
– It is essential to get the background devils that attract people out of the game. Then the situation will improve considerably, Pihlakoski believes.
– Many have already been caught.
After receiving the yellow card, Kenya has registered doping in the criminal law. The country also tripled its annual anti-doping budget.
The umbrella organization helps Kenyans in educational work.
– Increasing knowledge improves the situation. If the level of education is weak, you can be more vulnerable to the “advice” of various managers or doctors, Pihlakoski opens.
Photocopier in use
Kenya is trying to curb its doping problem. EPA/AOP
According to Pihlakoski, last year 44 Kenyan track and field athletes were found guilty of doping. Iltalehti told about document scams in which athletes try to explain their positive doping test with fake papers.
– When you notice in the report that they (explanations) were made with a photocopier, you don’t have to be a great researcher to notice that it doesn’t look very good, Pihlakoski says.
In Russia, doping has been found to be state-led, but in Kenya, money-hungry managers and doctors run shady business.
– Doping in Kenya is private entrepreneurship. A monthly salary in Finland would be years’ salary for someone in Kenya. The temptation is great.
– For many, running in Kenya is the only chance to go from rags to riches. A black market has formed in the country.
In the worst cases, athletes don’t even know they are using a banned substance.
Kenyan-Finnish runner Wilson Kirwa told Iltalehte in 2020 that some managers may claim that an athlete needs a “vitamin spike”. In reality, it is about doping.
– According to my understanding, this is what happens. It can be said that the result improves and does not get stuck. Or it is not even told that it is a prohibited substance, Pihlakoski confirms.
A big threat
Eglay Nafuna Nalyanya is one of the latest Kenyan runners to make the leap. ZUMAwire/MVphotos
Pihlakoski stresses that the threat of Kenya being excluded from international athletics, like Russia, is still serious.
However, the Finnish expert is hopeful.
– The carts have probably already reached their peak. I am hopeful that the situation will turn for the better. Word is spreading that in Kenya, doping becomes prison. It puts the brakes on.