Africa-Press – Kenya. Ikaika Sports Agency has jumped to Rhonex Kipruto’s defense following his provisional suspension by Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) over Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) irregularities.
Through a statement, Kipruto’s agent, Davor Savija has termed the treatment the athlete is facing as an injustice. “Despite the fact that we must accept the “presumption of guilt”, per anti-doping rules in place – we struggle to accept seeing athletes treated like criminals,” the statement reads.
In a comprehensive statement his management has expressed their reasons for disagreeing with the AI’s decision to suspend their client. “The AIU panel of experts evaluated the ABP records for the period July 2018 – March 2022.All out-of-competition (OOC) and in-competition (IC) tests, more than 50, were negative. All (but one OOC test) were unannounced,” the statement indicates.
“Rhonex was tested in-and-out of his specified 1-hour testing slots – morning, mid-day and evening. In total, there were 32 ABP blood tests (2 IC and 30 OOC) – from those 32, on 20 occasions urine samples were collected as well. Additional 17 IC urine tests were done, plus 3 more urine-only OOC tests. Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA), EPO, ferritin, among other substances, were frequently tested for. There were no positive results for any of the banned substances.”
On his side Rhonex has stated that he is innocent and is fully committed and ready to undergo a longitudinal study on his blood markers while being under 24/7 supervision.
“I don’t cheat or dope! The truth is on my side. This is all I can say,” Rhonex’s statement said. Brother Colm, Rhonex’s coach, has termed him as an honest young man and he is hurt to see his athlete suffer.
“I carefully choose who I work with and to whom I dedicate my energy. I know Rhonex is an honest young man and it hurts me to see him suffering now,” Colm’s statement reads.
“Our strategy is to train hard, and that’s the only way we achieve results. I have said many times that I am in favour of systematically combating doping so that we can protect clean athletes like Rhonex,” Colm added.
“Rhonex’s whereabouts are very regular and predictable. Locations in Iten – the camp (St. Patrick’s) and a private home, 5-10 minutes’ drive from the camp. His rural home is reachable within 90 minutes from the camp. He is super-predictable. No hidden, remote or inaccessible training camps or last minute whereabouts changes. Only one missed test in 3.5 years – mid-2019, when he travelled to the rural home in a rush due to a sudden family matter. No ABP flags in 2019 and early 2020, which was by far his most successful athletic period to date.
AIU wants us to explain a more than four-year-old case. To know today what happened with an athlete almost five years ago, why a particular biomarker (haemoglobin) was elevated, not only in relative terms, but in their experts’ opinions, also in absolute terms.
At the same time, it is very hard to understand that if a particular haemoglobin value was and is of such significance to the panel of experts, how could the athlete be allowed to compete for almost four years, without question being asked about that particular haemoglobin value,” Savija’s statement reads.
For More News And Analysis About Kenya Follow Africa-Press
