Former world marathon record holder Kenyan athlete Wilson Kipsang has been provisionally suspended for tampering with samples. The 37-year-old Kenyan athlete was charged with two breaches of anti-doping rules, the Athletics Integrity Unit said on Friday. This means that he will not be able to participate in the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Kipsang is a two time winner of the London Marathon and has a personal best of two hours, 3 minutes, 13 seconds – making him the equal sixth-fastest man in history. His time of 2: 03.23 at the 2013 Berlin Marathon stood as the world record for a year. He also won the 2014 New York Marathon and 2017 Tokyo Marathon.
Barnaba Korir, Athletics Kenya Executive Committee member and Chairman of the Nairobi Region said, "It is disappointing to hear another Kenyan, and a top one at that, becoming a victim of the doping scourge. But at the same time, we at Athletics Kenya take the development positively as we support the AIU in its effort to eradicate this (doping) scourge, which has taken a heavy toll on our athletes and image as a country."
Kenya was among the countries placed on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA`s) compliance watch list in 2016 and Kipsang is the latest Kenyan athlete to be charged with a rule violation. Around 60 Kenyan athletes have been sanctioned for anti-doping rule violations in the past five years.
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