Former African indoor 800m record holder Michael Saruni has been handed a four-year ban by the Anti-Doping Association of Kenya (ADAK) for allegedly orchestrating someone to impersonate him during a drugs test, according to an announcement by ADAK.
Saruni, aged 28, is among a group of 44 athletes, footballers, swimmers, and bodybuilders who received bans ranging from one year to life from an ADAK disciplinary panel. These measures are part of the ongoing efforts to combat widespread doping in Kenyan sports.
The disciplinary panel found Saruni guilty of “evading sample collection, or without compelling justification, refusing, and running away” during Kenyan trials for the 2022 World Championships and the Commonwealth Games.
The panel stated that Saruni adamantly evaded providing a sample or submitting to sample collection, allegedly colluding or employing trickery to escape or leave the testing venue. It was reported that Saruni had enlisted a lookalike to impersonate him and provide a sample on his behalf.
Throughout the hearings, Saruni, who had been provisionally suspended since January 2023, claimed that he had never been summoned by testers, as stated by ADAK. The imposed ban is set to conclude on August 30, 2027.
Saruni, who placed sixth in the 800m semi-final at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and failed to reach the final, faces the consequences of his actions amidst a growing trend of doping-related incidents in Kenyan athletics.
Over the past five years, nearly 100 Kenyan athletes, predominantly long-distance runners, have been sanctioned for doping violations.
Source: AFP.
