Nairobi — The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has slapped Kenyan athlete Kennedy Kiprop Cheboror with a two-year ban after three whereabout failures.
The 2019 Gyeongju Marathon champion was first cited for a whereabout failure on November 6 last year after he was unavailable at his Kapsabet athletics training camp for an anti-doping test.
"The DCO (doping control officer) and the DCA (doping control agent) met a man who informed them that the Athlete was in his off-season at his home (and consequently not at the camp address where he resided during the training season). The man called the athlete and informed the DCO and the DCA that the athlete had said that he was in Eldoret and would not be able to make it to the camp address within the 60-minute time slot," the report reads.
On the second occasion, it was revealed that the athlete had changed his management and was no longer training at the camp.
The athlete defended himself saying that he had assumed his whereabouts information had been updated to his current location.
"The Athlete informed them that he was of the understanding that his Whereabouts
information had been updated to where he was located at that time (in Eldoret)," the report reveals.
It adds: "On 18 December 2023, an explanation was submitted to the AIU on the Athlete's behalf by his representative at the time. In summary, the Athlete's representative explained that the athlete had not informed those persons responsible for filing updates to his Whereabouts information that he had moved out of the camp and that there had been no updates to the athlete's Whereabouts information accordingly."
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With his fate hanging in the balance, Cheboror failed to avail himself for his third anti-doping test on December 27.
His explanation, later on, was that he had gone home for Christmas and was unable to return to his whereabouts location in time.
"The DCO and the DCA searched the area for the full 60 minutes of the athlete's
specified timeslot by following the additional instructions submitted in the athlete's
Whereabouts Filing. However, the DCO and the DCA were unable to find the correct gate and house and therefore were not able to locate the athlete for testing during the specified 60-minute time slot," the report says.
It adds: "On 30 January 2024, an explanation was submitted to the AIU by the athlete's then representative. In summary, the athlete's representative informed the AIU that the athlete had informed them that he had gone home for Christmas and had forgotten to inform the representative about changing his Whereabouts information."
Cheboror's last competitive race was in 2022 at the Barcelona Marathon where he finished sixth after clocking 2:07:22
He also competed at the national cross country championships in the same year and finished second in the senior men's 10km race.
