Flomena Chepchirchir crosses the finish line in Macau
Flomena Chepchirchir, a 35-year-old athlete from Kenya, won the 2014 Macau International Marathon while she was banned for doping.
On December 7, 2014, Chepchirchir ran the 42.195 kilometers in 2:33:24, beating Kenyan teammate Hellen Wanjiku Mugo. China’s Gong Li Hua took bronze in 2:33:41, and Hoi Long from Macau ranked 10th.
The long-distance Kenyan female runner was revealed to have been under a ban issued by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) after a positive test was registered at the Birell Prague Grand Prix Marathon in the Czech Republic on September 6, 2014.
According to IAAF News Issue 159, the athlete was banned from competition for six months between September 6, 2014 and March 3, 2015.
The female marathoner reached her career peak in October 2013 when she ran Frankfurt’s Marathon in 2.23.00 and was one of a list of eight Kenyan runners that tested positive at the same event in Czech Republic, having been sanctioned by Athletics Kenya (AK).
Reports at the time of the ban noted the case of Chepchirchir as “a likely case of unknowingly using a contaminated supplement.”
A recent Associated Press report highlighted several similar cases where banned athletes from Kenya have continued to compete and even win marathons despite the ban.
The report features the recent case of athlete Bernard Mwendia Muthoni, who finished sixth in the Melaka River International Marathon in Malaysia last December, despite serving a two-year ban for using a nandrolone byproduct.
AK CEO Isaac Mwangi, cited by the AP from a previous interview, said, “Many of these athletes […] are caught in Mexico; some are in China, especially in Macau. Those are areas that are difficult to control.”
This incident could tarnish the image of the local athletics competition for a second time. A course mistake in 2012 resulted in athletes running three extra kilometers. [More on page 18]
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