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How bad is the doping Situation in Kenya? Is it exactly how it appears to be? Are there any double standards applied in the fight against doping in Kenya? What motivates Kenyan athletes to dope?
This past weekend, the Anti-Doping Workshop for Kenyan Sports Journalists, which took place from July 5th to July 6th, 2024, sought to answer all these and more questions.
I was one of the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) members who were welcomed by Dr. Martin Yauma, the head of Anti-doping Education and Research, to an insightful and engaging 2-day seminar in Naivasha.
It was also a “great opportunity to meet with fellow sports journalists who we never get to meet often from across the country,” from the words of James Waindi, the president of SJAK.
ADAK believes that sports journalists play a vital role in the fight against doping, which is why they invited us.
“Journalists can contribute to the fight by exposing doping scandals through investigative journalism and uncovering doping practices, often bringing hidden issues to light. By exposing these scandals, they can prompt action from sports authorities and the government. Through articles, interviews, and documentaries, journalists can highlight the importance of integrity and fair play in sports,” read the message sent by Madam Sarah I. Shibutse. The seminar kicked off on a day when Kenya’s president handed the flag to the Kenyan team heading to the Paris Olympics, and the ADAK CEO was understandably absent.
Extend of the doping situation in Kenya
“We are moving away from using the word ‘anti-doing’ in our work to using the word ‘clean sport’ instead, Dr. Yauma said before he took us through charts to show the extent of use of performance-enhancing substances among athletes in Kenya.
An alarming study of 365 participants showed that 21.9% may have used, 78.1% haven’t, and 36.1% are aware of colleagues who may have taken some PEDs knowingly or unknowingly. A different body did the research for educational and research purposes, not ADAK
The predisposing factors were as follows:
-Financial 40%
-Physiological 20%
-Governance 15%
-Individual 15%
-Cultural/society pressure 10%
In all these, Dr. Yauma says that education is the best solution and that an athlete’s first experience with anti-doping should not be with the doping control officers but rather in a learning environment.
According to WADA findings, the doping practices of Kenyan athletes are “unsophisticated, opportunistic, and uncoordinated.” This, at times, is even evident when the athletes are asked to explain why there was the presence of prohibited substances in their system, and some of them would come up with false excuses that do not make sense. They may claim that the drugs were for a specific condition while the drug is used to treat something else.
The educators said some athletes were banned for more years for providing false evidence in a case where they would have served a much shorter ban.
“Sometimes an athlete would provide false documents to explain a whereabouts rule violation. It even becomes easier to ban the athlete using the false documents than to await for two other missed whereabouts,” said one of the educators at the seminar.
Why Kenyan athletes should not use supplements
The question about the use of food supplements came up, and ADAK made their case as to why they advise athletes in Kenya not to use them, even those branded as “tested and free from banned substances.”
“It is not only the supplements, but we have seen that there is a challenge in the supply chains, even in other items, like drinks in Kenya, where we sometimes find counterfeit items. We would not wish to point out that some supplements are safe, only for athletes to be caught and get us in a bad situation. We believe that athletes can get most of the nutrients they need from natural sources,” Dr. Yauma said.
He further explained that in other countries with clear regulations on the supply and distribution of supplements, it would be safer to get supplements that are free from contamination.
Athletes in Kenya should train well and use the right natural foods to get the energy they need.
Ensuring a clean team is going to the Paris Olympics
However, the doping situation may not be as bad as many think after we learned that more than 4,000 athletes have been tested in the last year, and the percentage was significantly low.
Most athletes have been tested even up to 7 times in the one-year period, given that any athlete preparing to represent the country at the Paris Olympics had to be tested at least three times before becoming eligible to represent the country.
ADAK has been conducting seminars with athletes across the country and conducting tests to ensure that only clean athletes will represent Kenya at the Paris Olympics. Kennedy Mwai, one of the educators at the seminar, was clearly hoarse after days of travel and talking across different training camps in the country where the national teams are doing their final preparations.
On the second day of the seminar, we learned more about the best way to report on doping violations and heard from journalists about the challenges they face in reporting.
The challenges Kenyan journalists face in reporting doping
Veteran journalists Michelle Katami and Elias Makori presented some of the encounters they had in their careers.
“In the past, before ADAK was formed, getting the facts and truth from relevant sources was hard,” said Katami. “Some people felt threatened to report on the menace. However, there is now more interest and information available for journalists.”
Makori, for his part, said he initially could not differentiate a suspension, a sanction, a ban, and other terms used in doping cases.
“Foreign media had more information on doping matters and would come and do sensational stories ahead of big championships,” Makori said. “It appeared that the government had not taken the doping fight very seriously then.”
Makori also urged fellow journalists to empathize with former dopers and help them reform. He also urged them to network with anti-doping bodies always to get the truth on doping matters.