In what look like two American versus two Kenyan in doping violation played out yesterday when Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) suspended two females US sprinters and two Kenyan runner.
Former American 200m Champion Deejah Stevens, Gabrielle Thomas, the 2018 NCAA 200m champion and a pace-setter when Eliud Kipchoge broke marathon record, road runner Alex Korio Oliotiptip have all been provisionally suspended for whereabouts failures by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).
But the second kenya Mikel Kiprotich Mutai, the winner of the Hong Kong Marathon in 2016, was suspended after testing positive for the banned substance norandosterone.
Nearly 50 Kenyan athletes are currently serving suspensions, according to the AIU database.
Stevens, who finished seventh in the 200 metres final at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and was fifth at the following year’s World Championships in London, amassed three whereabouts violations in a year and is facing a ban of up to two years.
Oliotiptip, a sub 59-minute runner in the half marathon who came 11th in the 10,000m at last year’s World Championships, and Thomas are accused of committing the same violations.
Thomas, who claimed the 200m National Collegiate Athletic Association title in 2018 and is a two-time winner of the event at the Lausanne Diamond League, has denied any wrongdoing and said she expects to be cleared of failing to make herself available for anti-doping tests.
“Phone tracking data and multiple witnesses will conclusively show that I was at the exact location I established in my whereabouts and that the doping control officer simply failed to locate me and failed to follow proper protocol”, Thomas said.
