Chris Musumba
8 July 2009
Nairobi — All Africa Games 1,500 metres champion Asbel Kiprop could be tempted to take a day off from training for the World Championship scheduled for next month in Berlin to savour his belated moment of glory.
Kiprop is due to be confirmed an Olympic champion following confirmation that Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi tested positive for a banned substance.
Ramzi, originally from Morocco, stunned the world with his sprint in the last 200m of the four-lap race that left even Kiprop gasping for breath at the Beijing Olympics last August.
He clocked three minutes and 32.94 seconds to breast the tape ahead of the Kenyan (3:33.11) and New Zealand's Nicholas Willis (3:34.16).
Kiprop's crowning will raise Kenya's medal tally to six gold, four silver and four bronze, beating Jamaica (6, 3, 2) to the third spot in the track and field contests.
USA was tops with 23 medals (7, 9, 7) and Russia second with 18 (6, 5, 7).
Efforts to contact the runner yesterday regarding the development were unsuccessful as his phone was switched off.
A report by DPA News Agency confirmed that examinations carried out on 'B' samples reaffirmed that cyclists Stefan Schumacher and Davide Rebellin, as well as Ramzi and two other athletes, tested positive for the latest generation of the blood booster EPO.
The lawyers of the five athletes have met to discuss a strategy for their appeals before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Schumacher, of Germany, was confirmed to have used CERA at retests of Tour de France 2008 samples and of those retested by the International Olympic Committee from the Beijing Olympics.
Italy's Rebellin, Bahraini runner Ramzi, Greek walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka and Croatian 800m runner Vanja Perisic were also caught in the IOC retests, with the b-sample confirming the original finding.
Ramzi won gold in the 1,500m in Beijing while Rebellin got a cycling silver in China. The other three did not win medals but Schumacher won both time trials at the 2008 Tour. Weightlifter cleared
The 'A' sample of Yudelquis Contreras (Dominican Republic) tested positive but the weightlifter was cleared of any wrongdoing after his 'B' test was last month declared negative.
The IOC keeps blood samples for eight years and they are subject to retests when new test methods are introduced. The tests for CERA were made available after the Olympics last August.
Schumacher, banned for two years over the positive Tour samples, now faces a life ban for testing positive as well in the Olympic samples. The others face two-year bans, with Ramzi and Rebellin set to lose their medals as well.
Kiprop had said being confirmed an Olympic champion would be an honour.
"It feels good to know that my opponent tested positive. Cheating in sports is bad, but I want to win it on the track - not through a boardroom decision," Kiprop said in May.
The athlete's representative, Noah Ngeny, himself a 1,500m champion at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, lauded the decision, saying it will make Kenyan runners proud as they remain clean over the use of banned substances.
"Only Kenya has natural runners in middle distance. Many have been nabbed, but we remain among the few countries that have kept off the vice," said Ngeny.He however cautioned Kiprop against resting on his laurels.
"This is no guarantee that he will win gold in Berlin. The 1,500m race is a tough and tactical race. No one is assured of victory and this confirmation should only act as an inspiration for him to seek better performance," he said.
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