NAIROBI, July 15, (Xinhua/GNA) — Kenyan sprinter Kevin Kipkorir, has been ruled out of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, over what officials are blaming on a “technicality”.
Athletics Kenya (AK) and the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) were at pains to explain how the 4x400m athlete failed to travel to France at the very last minute, each pointing fingers at the other.
Had it all gone according to plan, Kipkorir, 28, the Kenyan 400m champion, would be training alongside Kenya’s advance party that has already arrived at their official pre-Olympics training camp in Miramas, southern France.
“I was called to Kenya’s team camp. I was surprised on the last day when people were expected to travel to Miramas, Paris, I heard I wasn’t in the team. I had to visit the AK offices and I was told that I hadn’t been tested fully. But I have been tested and I have all the papers,” the devastated 28-year-old told journalists.
He had spent two weeks at the local training camp in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, only to be told he would not be on the advance party that started departing for France a week ago.
According to AK, Kipkorir did not meet the required number of doping tests, a delay they attributed to the ADAK, which has denied responsibility.
ADAK CEO Sarah Shibutse told local TV station NTV on Sunday evening that Kipkorir, has three tests: two out of competition and one in competition, noting that the deadline for the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) to test athletes going for the Olympics was July 4.
“AK told us about this athlete on July 4, telling us this athlete has been included in the team. We checked and found he didn’t meet the requirements,” Shibutse said.
Kenya’s head of mission Barnaba Korir, told the same channel that there was a test that came in less than 21 days, as prescribed by World Athletics.
“And that is why they said, okay, if that is the case, it means that as per those rules, he is not qualified to run unless the federation appeals as an extraordinary thing that [he] happened to be allowed to go,” Korir said.
Kipkorir’s case has brewed a storm on social media and other online chat rooms over which organization is to blame for the mix-up that has left the runner, who quit his job at a supermarket to prepare for the Olympics, out of the Games.
Kenya remains in Category A of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) nations with the highest risk of doping, meaning its athletes must have three no-notice out-of-competition tests within a year to be entered at the Olympics.
The deadline for all three tests elapsed on July 4.
Kipkorir has competed in AK local meetings, the National Championships, Olympic Trials, and World Relays in the Bahamas, and the African Championships in Douala, Cameroon, this season.
He won the Olympic Trial in Nairobi to seal his place at Paris.
GNA