Kenyan Olympian runner Rodgers Kwemoi banned for six years for blood doping

Nairobi: Kenyan Olympian and former world U-20 10,000m champion Rodgers Kwemoi has been handed an extended six-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for blood doping.

Kwemoi was found guilty of using blood boosters to improve his performance due to abnormalities in his Athlete’s Biological Passport (ABP), according to a verdict signed on April 24, 2024, and made public by AIU on Friday.

The 27-year-old runner was once tipped to be the future of long-distance track running in the East African nation following his breakthrough victory at the Bydgoszcz 2016 World U20 Championship in Poland.

However, a three-judge panel sitting in London and chaired by David Sharpe convicted him of blood doping. Kwemoi will also forfeit all titles, records, and earnings accrued between July 18, 2016, and August 8, 2023, besides being ordered to pay World Athletics 3,000 U.S. dollars as part of the costs of prosecuting his case.

Kwemoi, who set the Istanbul Half Marathon course record of 59:15 in 2022, chose a three-judge hearing to argue his case through a London lawyer who represented him pro bono after being notified by the AIU of his Adverse Analytical Findings. IANS

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