Kenyan athlete who jumped over a fence to evade anti-doping officials banned

By Timothy Olobulu

A Kenyan athlete who jumped over a fence to evade registration by Doping Control Officers (DCOs) has been slapped with a three-and-a-half-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit.

According to AIU, Kenya's Patrick Siele ran away and hurdled over a fence in a training camp in Kapsabet in a bid to evade the DCO's who had come to collect out of competition blood samples.

Siele was banned for "evading Sample collection, or without compelling justification, refusing or failing to submit to Sample collection after notification as authorized in these Anti Doping Rules or other applicable anti-doping rules".

According to the AIU, The Athlete was notified that he had been selected for doping control and was required to provide a sample.

Following notification, the Athlete was asked to join a group of fellow athletes, who had similarly been selected for doping control, in order to complete the formal written notification procedures on December 18, 2019.

It is while waiting to complete the written notification process that the 23-year old took off and the notification could not be completed.

An attempt by one of the Doping Control Officers to try and follow him was futile as he could not match his pace and a witness further told the AIU that he saw Siele jump over a fence in order to escape from the compound.

Siele was to be initially banned for four years, but after admitting to the offence and this being his first time caught in the anti-doping web, had six months reduced from the initial sentence.

"The Athlete has admitted that he was aware that the AIU was seeking to test him on that day and that he took steps intended to avoid being tested by running away from the camp," a statement from the AIU said.

"The AIU accepts that the Athlete promptly admitted the violation after the AIU's notification letter on 16 March 2020 and the AIU and the World Anti-Doping Agency have agreed to a 6 month reduction in the 4-year sanction in accordance with Rule 10.6.3 ADR, taking into account the seriousness of his violation and his relative degree of fault being only 23 years old, the fact that this was his first experience of out-of-competition testing and his relative lack of anti-doping education which may have contributed to his error of judgment on the day," further explained the AIU.

This article was originally published by Capital FM. [Photo: Capital FM]