Forged medical documents land Kenyan athlete seven-year doping ban

Forged medical documents land Kenyan athlete seven-year doping ban

Joel Omotto 16:11 - 17.08.2024

The marathoner has been slapped with a seven-year suspension after doping and presenting forged documents in an attempt to cover up her crime.

Kenyan marathoner Salina Jebet has been handed a seven-year ban for doping and presenting forged medical records to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) last year.

The 37-year-old was provisionally suspended in July 2023 after a urine sample she presented to at the Cool City Liupanshui Summer Marathon in China returned a positive test for banned substance 19-norandrosterone.

However, when investigations began, the athlete went out of her way to forge medical documents and give a false testimony which has landed her into further trouble due to the offence of tempering, seeing her ban extended from the usual four to seven years.

Jebet told AIU officials that she had not doped intentionally but had been diagnosed with osteorthiritis in March 2023 and visited a doctor in July that year when the condition worsened.

She presented a payment request and a prescription from the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital and a letter from a Dr BK Tai dated August 21, 2023.

The AIU asked her to provide further documents, including a prescription dated March 3, 2023, an X-ray scan from the hospital done in July 2023, and Dr BK Tai’s license, while also requesting the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) to determine the veracity of the athlete’s assertions.

ADAK’s response, however, confirmed that there was no record at the hospital’s database to determine that the athlete had received treatment at the facility. The hospital also does not stock Nandrolone and therefore no record of the drug being administered to any patient.

The hospital only had a record of the athlete visiting the facility in August 2023, after she had been flagged for the anti-doping rule violation, when she went to an outpatient clinic.

The medical facility also did not consider the letter bearing the athlete’s name which was presented to the AIU and the report from Dr Tai was found not to be authentic.

It was concluded therefore that Jebet had doped and intentionally tried to use forged medical records to cover up her crime, landing her a further four years on suspension over the offence of tempering.

It was only in May this year that Jebet admitted to have cheated and tried to cover up that her ban was reduced from eight years to seven, effectively starting on August 17, 2023 when she was provisionally suspended.