Marathoner Titus Ekiru handed 10-year doping ban

The World Athletics continued to tighten the noose on dopers when it handed  Kenya's distance runner Titus Ekiru a 10-year ban for various doping offences. 

Ekiru, who will no longer be the sixth fastest man in marathon history, could as well as count his athletics career over after World Athletics' integrity wing, Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) delivered the verdict on Monday. 

Ekiru, who had a career best of two hours, two minutes, 57 seconds had been provisionally suspended by  AIU in July this year. 

AIU disclosed that Ekiru's case exposes collusion with a high-ranking doctor at a Kenyan hospital. 

AIU has since referred the doctor to Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) for possible prosecution. 

Ekiru whose results dating back to May 16,2021 have been expunged from World Athletics records, and will serve a decade out of athletics starting June 28, 2022, was found guilty for the Presence of Prohibited Substances (Triamcinolone Acetonide and metabolite; Pethidine and metabolite) and for Tampering. 

AIU, in a statement indicated that Ekiru's sanction follows a comprehensive investigation which revealed Tampering by the 31-year-old to obstruct the AIU’s probe into two Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs), using “false/misleading information and documentation”. 
 
Ekiru tested positive twice for the Presence of Prohibited Substances, or their metabolites or markers, in his in-competition urine samples at marathons which he won in 2021. 

He failed the test at the Generali Milano Marathon on May 16, 2021 after being found with triamcinolone acetonide in his system and the Abu Dhabi Marathon on November  16, 2021 where he abused pethidine and its marker norpethidine. 

In addition to the ban – which runs from June 28,.2022, when Ekiru was provisionally suspended until June 27, 2032, his results on and since May 16, 2021 have been disqualified, resulting in the forfeiture of all prizes and money.  

Ekiru, the 2019 Africa Games Half Marathon champion made history as the fifth man to run a marathon under two hours and three minutes when he won Milano City Marathon in an explosive 2:02:57 on May 16, 2021. 

Ekiru went on to win the Abu Dhabi Marathon in 2:06:13 on November 26, 2021 and has not competed since then. 

After his Milano exploits, Ekiru had promised to break Eliud Kipchoge’s world record of 2:01:39 from 2019 Berlin and even become the first man to run a marathon under two hours in a record-eligible event. 

In 2019, Kipchoge became the first man to break the two-hour barrier when he ran 1:59:40 at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, but his result was not ratified as an official world record. 

Ekiru is now the first Kenyan to serve the longest ban after distance runners,  the 2016 Rio Olympics marathon champion Jemima Sumgong (2019), Salome Biwott (2019) and Purity Jerono Talam (2023) and middle distance runner Eglay Nalianya (2023) who were banned for eight years each for doping and evidence-tampering among other offences. 

Others to receive heavy bans were Tabitha Wambui, seven years and Diana Kipyokei, six years. 

In July 2023, Ekiru was charged with two counts of the Presence of a Prohibited Substance, as per Rule 2.1 of the of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules (ADR), and two counts of Tampering or Attempted Tampering with any part of Doping Control (ADR Rule 2.5). 

Initially, Ekiru signalled his intention to contest the charges. 

However, faced with substantial evidence against him, the Kenyan athlete decided that he no longer wanted to pursue the case. 

As a result, the AIU requested the termination of the disciplinary proceedings that had been instigated before the Disciplinary Tribunal and issued a decision in the case, treating the two Presence charges and the first Tampering or Attempted Tampering charge as a single Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV). 

In this regard, the period of ineligibility is based on the violation that carries the more severe sanction – four years for the Rule 2.5 (Tampering) violation – plus two years for Aggravating Circumstances, totalling six years. Another mandatory four-year sanction has been imposed for the second Tampering violation committed by Ekiru in connection with his explanation for the second Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF), which is to be served consecutively to the six-year period for the two Presence charges and the First Tampering or Attempted Tampering Charge, thereby totalling ten years’ ineligibility. 

AIU Chair David Howman Monday revealed the full details of the case. 

Enlisting assistance from the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK), the AIU acquired hospital information which showed discrepancies in Ekiru’s explanations and supporting documentation for the AAFs which he contended stemmed from prescribed medications for injury treatments. 

Deeper investigation unearthed Ekiru’s collusion with a senior doctor in Nandi County from whom, on two occasions (April 29, 2021 and May 6, 2021), the athlete received injections of triamcinolone acetonide during undocumented hospital visits. 

In relation to the second AAF, there was a third undocumented hospital treatment on November 19, 2021, during which Ekiru received a pethidine injection and meperidine (pethidine) tablets (among other medication) for acute pain. 

The senior doctor claimed Ekiru’s visits were unrecorded by the hospital as “the athlete had attended early in the morning, before the registration offices had opened”.  

Ekiru said he received an outpatient number and card on his first visit on April 29 which he subsequently used on his second visit (May 6), but hospital documents obtained by the AIU revealed that the outpatient number was not issued to Ekiru until June 16, 2021; the one occasion on which the hospital confirmed Ekiru’s attendance as an outpatient. 

It was testimony of the Nandi County Director of Medical Services which solidified the case against Ekiru with a series of damning conclusions – while also exposing the complicity of the senior doctor. 

These included that, given the outpatient number assigned to Ekiru was not issued until 16 June 2021, any medical documents for his alleged treatment on April 29, 2021 and May 6, 2021 were produced on or after June 16, 2021 and were back-dated, that the hospital in question had never stocked triamcinolone acetonide or meperidine tablets (the latter never having been purchased by the County Government for distribution to any hospital in the County), that the hospital Pharmacy Registers showed that no triamcinolone acetonide or pethidine had been dispensed on the relevant dates and that the hospital Injection Register had been manipulated to include a reference to an injection of pethidine given to Ekiru on 19 November 2021. 

The Nandi County Director of Medical Services therefore concluded that Ekiru’s medical documents submitted to the AIU to explain his AAFs were forged and were inconsistent with the hospital records. 

“The outcome in this case is testimony to the collaboration between the AIU and ADAK, but even more so to the important co-operation from the most senior medical official of the Nandi County Government who provided significant evidence needed to ascertain the truth in this case and uncover the complicity of a senior doctor working in one of the County hospitals,” noted Howman. 

“Government officials are now working alongside ADAK and the AIU to uncover doping in Kenyan athletics and expose the networks that may be involved. For athletes involved in doping and the entourage who assist them, there is one strong message from this case – there is nowhere to hide.” 

The AIU has formally requested that ADAK refer the conduct of the senior doctor to the criminal authorities in Kenya for further investigation.

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