Kipsang said that more than 99% of Kenya’s athletes are clean and believes that many of his compatriots who have tested positive have done so because of lack of education or through spite not because they were cheating. He also said that the Kenyan Athletic Association should be trusted since many athletes who have taken the tests have received a negative result he finished off by adding that only 1% of athletes in Kenya are using enhancing drugs.
“We have people taking advantage of the ignorance of some guys mainly to kill the sport in Kenya and there are lots of issues that are going on when it comes to doping that people don’t understand. Many of the athletics don’t know what EPO is. People have a plan to destroy careers of athletes because of differences in opinion or goals. A manager might take an athlete to a doctor and he or she is given something and when he comes to be tested he is positive,” Kipsang said.
He also said anti-doping efforts in Kenya were improving and he is happy the punishment for serious offences was going up from two years to four but he also called on Athletics Kenya to do more to educate athletes.
“There is no awareness, some athletes use some medication because they go to hospital, they are sick, they are prescribed some medicines, but they are given substance which is banned by the world Anti-Doping Agency”, he said.
The upcoming marathon season is a highly anticipated by Kipsang and he is preparing to do his best. He believes he will do well especially if there is no rain in the events that he will take part in.
