Winning medals is “no longer the priority” as Kenyan athletics looks to clean up its image when it comes to drug cheats.<\/span><\/p>\n The country has seen a growing number of athletes serving bans for doping – accounting for 40% of the total number of athletes who failed drug tests globally in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Indeed, the situation is so dire that a potential ban from international competition was discussed by World Athletics, the sport’s governing body, with Kenya’s sports minister forced to plead for more time at a council meeting in Rome last November.<\/span><\/p>\n Kenya evaded a ban but the East African athletics powerhouse finds itself <\/span>on an uncomfortable journey as it tries to repair its once glittering global image<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n With the track and field season getting underway, national governing body Athletics Kenya is approaching August’s World Athletics Championships in Hungary with caution – and a very different approach to the medal table.<\/span><\/p>\n “The results at the championships are no longer the priority,” Barnabas Korir, Athletics Kenya youth development director, told BBC Sport Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n “The Federation is focusing mainly on protecting the clean athletes because it’s a fact that we have athletes who are winning fairly.<\/span><\/p>\n “We would rather take runners who are considered weak, the results will not matter as long as they are running clean.<\/span><\/p>\n “We can no longer just focus on winning medals.”<\/span><\/p>\n Sports minister Ababu Namwamba is expected to set up a steering committee that will ensure Athletics Kenya and the national anti-doping agency utilise allocated resources properly.<\/span><\/p>\n The government has committed $25m to clean up the sport over the next five years, but Korir knows failing to tackle the problem could prove costly in other ways.<\/span><\/p>\n “We have to reduce the numbers significantly so as to regain our positive global image,” he added. <\/span><\/p>\n Kenya is among seven countries deemed a Category A federation – the highest doping risk – by the independent Athletics Integrity Unit, meaning athletes must undergo at least three tests in the 10 months leading up to a major event in order to be eligible to compete.<\/span><\/p>\n “We have been in Category A for five years now and our target is to get out in the next five,” Korir revealed.<\/span><\/p>\n “World Athletics has given us a target of at least 3,000 tests through the anti-doping agency of Kenya this year – that’s part of the requirement if we are to continue competing against the rest of the world.”<\/span><\/p>\n Over 1,500 athletes took part in the second Athletics Kenya track and field meeting on 25\/26 February, a competition sanctioned by World Athletics as a World Championships qualifying event.<\/span><\/p>\n “Ordinarily, the main aim at local events is to spot talent but we are using most of our events to register athletes into the Athletics Integrity Unit testing pool,” Korir continued.<\/span><\/p>\n “It’s important for us to expand our testing pool as it increases our chances of catching cheaters.” <\/span><\/p>\n In January, World Athletics boss Sebastien Coe visited Kenya to discuss the situation, <\/span>stating he was confident there had been no cover-up or suggestion of state-sponsored doping in Kenya<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Korir has vowed that no one will be allowed any leniency in the battle against doping.<\/span><\/p>\n‘We can no longer just focus on medals’<\/h3>\n
Testing times ahead<\/h3>\n
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