Third Kenyan athlete in 10 days fails doping test
Samuel Kalalei, who won the Athens marathon in November, testing positive for blood-booster EPO on June 4
Nairobi — Kenyan Samuel Kalalei, who won the Athens marathon in November, is the third athlete from the African nation to have been found in breach of anti-doping rules within 10 days, officials said on Tuesday. The 24-year-old Kalalei has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for testing positive for blood-booster EPO on June 4, the body said on its website. Kalalei’s failed test is the latest to tarnish the East African nation’s reputation as the dominant force in global middle-and long-distance running, as it has been dogged in recent years by doping cases among elite athletes. In July, sprinter Boniface Mweresa was dropped from the Kenyan team that topped the medal table at the African Senior Championships in Asaba, Nigeria, after he failed a doping test. Mweresa protested that he had taken declared supplements, but the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) said the substance found in his sample was prohibited. The continental athletics showpiece ended ...
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