The winner of the 2021 Boston Marathon, Kenyan Diana Kipyokei, was suspended by governing body World Athletics’ Athletics Integrity Unit Friday after testing positive for a banned substance.
Ms. Kipyokei is alleged to have taken triamcinolone acetonide, a performance enhancing drug, before the 2021 Boston Marathon. She is also alleged to have tampered with the investigation by providing false information.
The Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the Boston Marathon, said that “Kipyokei’s result in the 2021 Boston Marathon will be disqualified, pending the completion of relevant athlete appeals processes.”
If her suspension is upheld, Ms. Kipyokei “faces being banned for at least four years and stripped of her Boston win and $150,000 prize money,” according to the Associated Press.
If her title is vacated, it would go to second-place finisher and fellow Kenyan national Edna Kiplagat, who finished 24 seconds behind Ms. Kipyokei in 2021. Ms. Kiplagat was previously the winner of the Boston Marathon in 2017.
Gianni Demadonna, Ms. Kipyokei’s former agent, told LetsRun.com that “She never said to us the real name of the doctor. I don’t know if she’s afraid of consequences. But as far as we understood, she was trying to cheat us. … She gave us some stories, and we said, sorry, but you changed three times the name of the doctor.”
Mr. Demadonna concluded to LetsRun.com that “Diana is completely guilty. I am sorry. She has done something very bad.”
Ms. Kipyokei’s run-in with athletics authorities is not the first time a Kenyan runner has run afoul of doping rules recently.
Ms. Kipyokei’s suspension was announced at the same time as that of Betty Wilson Lempus, who is accused of doping with triamcinolone acetonide before a race in Paris.
On Thursday, the AIU announced a three-year ban on Mark Kangogo for doping with the substance before a 2022 mountain trail race in Switzerland.
All in all, according to the AIU, the cases are “part of a recent trend in Kenyan athletics regarding triamcinolone acetonide, with ten Kenyan athletes testing positive for that prohibited substance between 2021 and 2022.”
Mr. Demadonna suggested that, despite these cases and attempts to educate runners on which substances were banned, the lure of money would continue to prove too much to handle.
“To eradicate doping from Kenya, it is not only education. Because you cannot educate people that don’t want to be educated. They only have one goal, that is to change their life. If you are poor and you see the money there, you see a lot of money there,” Mr. Demadonna told LetsRun.com.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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