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Colm O'Connell, Kipruto’s coach also came to the defense of Kipruto saying that he is an ‘honest young man’.
Ikaika Sports, Rhonex Kipruto’s management, have in a press release addressed the issue facing the World 10k record holder at the moment.
This comes after the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) informed Kipruto, of alleged inconsistencies, which date back to 2018, in blood values recorded in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).
AIU has suspended Kipruto provisionally and was requested to provide an explanation. However, the management was not impressed by how AIU treated the athlete.
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13:00 - 17.05.2023
ATHLETICS Not another one! World 10km road race record holder Rhonex Kipruto suspended over doping
The 23-year-old is staring at a ban after being issued with a notice of charge over the use of a Prohibited Substance/Method (ABP).
“Despite the fact that we must accept the “presumption of guilt”, per anti-doping rules in place – we struggle to accept seeing athletes treated like criminals. The world is full of cheating and deceit. We are not naive, doping is, unfortunately, part of a bigger scheme of things.
"We know that doping and performance enhancing drugs are a problem of modern society, not just of sport – from boardroom and bedroom, to arts, academia, to pressures of modern-day living, all the way to amateur, professional, university and high school sports,” Davor Savija, Kipruto’s agent at the Ikaika Sports agency, said in a statement.
The management revealed that the case had been under scrutiny for quite a while and an agent, a coach and assistant coach, as well as Kipruto himself. They revealed that they had spent over Ksh 4,121,700.
“It is affecting Kipruto’s mental and physical performance. This is trial before trial, and this is somewhat schizophrenic – we are asked to explain ourselves, but are not provided with sufficient information.
Without engaging experts, legal team and incurring significant expenses, one can’t provide sufficiently detailed and reasoned explanations and replies rooted in science and data analytics.
This is injustice. We will, of course, fully cooperate and be totally transparent. We urge the AIU to do the same,” he added.
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13:00 - 16.05.2023
Doping: More shame for Kenya after Atlanta Half Marathon champion Kosimbei is suspended
The 26-year-old will await his fate after being sanctioned and faces a possible four-year ban if he is found culpable
A biochemist, Dr. Douwe de Boer, also said: “A potential lack of transparency is arguably unfair to innocent athletes. Without all the details, how can athletes adequately defend themselves? As pressure to reinforce sanctions increases, so too should the pressure to release more results.”
Colm O'Connell, Kipruto’s coach also came to his defense saying that he is an ‘honest young man’. He said they train athletes to work hard and win in a clean way.
“I carefully choose who I work with and to whom I dedicate my energy. I know Kipruto is an honest young man and it hurts me to see him suffering now.
"Our strategy is to train hard, and that's the only way we achieve results. I have said many times that I am in favour of systematically combating doping so that we can protect clean athletes like Kipruto,” O’Connell said.
On his part, Kipruto said: “I don't cheat or dope! The truth is on my side. This is all I can say.”
The statement from Kipruto’s management further elaborated that they have a strict policy when it comes to doping and have zero tolerance for cheating, adding that they educate the athletes regularly on matters doping.
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14:23 - 10.05.2023
ATHLETICS ‘Broke’ Nijel Amos to sell Olympics medal as doping ban begins to bite
The Botswana runner is set to sell the country’s first Olympics medal to cushion his family after he was handed a three-year suspension by AIU
“All our internal rules are regularly updated and available for athletes in Swahili and English. We teach athletes not to run the risk of even unintentional doping. We emphasise compliance with whereabouts and warn athletes, for example, about the risks associated with drugs that are permitted during OOC periods, but are prohibited IC.
"We highlight enormous dangers and risks associated with medical products, supplements, creams and ointments and everything and anything that can enter athletes’ bodies,” the statement read.
In case of anti-doping rule violations by athletes they work with, Ikaika noted that they end cooperation with immediate effect. It was revealed that they are also committed to full repayment of the commission earned from said athletes’ competition-related earnings.
“We consider each ADRV to be of great significance and damage to us as agency, to our team, and we perceive ourselves as victims and collateral damage of doping.”
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