sports

Anti-doping agency rubbishes ‘defective, inaccurate’ German TV graft claims

Kenya Anti-Doping Agency has rubbished a report by German TV portraying it as corrupt.

The agency said the video is “factually defective and inaccurate”.

The report on July 30 by Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen noted that ADAK was corrupt and colluding with athlete managers to cover up doping in Kenya.

In the seven-minute video, an anonymous source purporting to be a manager at ADAK detailed how the entire agency is compromised as athletes take Performance Enhancing Drugs.

He further alleges that ADAK’s Testing Officers are bribed by Frederico Rosa who is one of the top athletes’ managers so as to cover up doping activities.

But in a statement on Wednesday, CEO Japhter Rugut dismissed the claims saying the contents of that clip are innuendos that should be ignored.

“We also wish to dispel the notion that the Agency is a haven for corruption. As a State Agency established under the Anti-Doping Act, 2016 ADAK is founded on a platform of integrity which is also one of our core values,” he said.

Rugut said they have a legal mandate of promoting participation in sport, free from doping in order to protect the health and well-being of competitors.

“Similarly, our staff are characterized by outstanding high morals and their actions are guided by adherence to the requirements of Chapter Six of the Kenyan Constitution,” he said.

He said ADAK is one among the many stakeholders in the anti-doping tests cycle and it is not within their powers to cover up a positive doping case.

“Samples are analysed only in WADA accredited laboratories. Before approving any such laboratory, WADA will ensure it meets the high analytical and custodial standards required,” he said.

“We have a private laboratory where samples collected from athletes, analysed and the results only revealed to them.”

This is not the first accusation made from ZDF to Kenyan athletes having released a series of documentaries that depict foul play on Kenyan athletes especially days to international events.

Several Kenyan athletes have missed international races and the Olympics after failing doping tests in recent months.

Towards the end of June, the government passed an amended anti-doping bill so that the World Anti-Doping Agency could take Kenya off its non-compliant list.

WADA had put Kenya on its non-compliant list as an anti-doping law passed by Parliament was not in line with its own code.

The country’s reputation has been tarnished by more than 40 doping cases in the last four years.

The International Association of Athletics Federations has demanded that each Kenyan athlete must submit to three urine tests and one blood test.

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