A police investigation has been launched "into claims by two Kenyan doctors and one of their associates that they had supplied banned performance-enhancing drugs to British athletes," according to the LONDON TIMES. The medics were "secretly filmed by undercover reporters from The Sunday Times investigating allegations of doping in and around the British team’s high-altitude base in Kenya." Last week officers from Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations "arrested the three men after viewing film footage." Investigators from UK Anti-Doping flew to Nairobi on Thursday "to give assistance." In undercover footage, the medics "claim they treated British, Kenyan and other athletes with erythropoietin (EPO), the blood-boosting drug used by sporting cheats such as the disgraced American cyclist Lance Armstrong." The investigation "unearthed disturbing claims about the doping culture in the Kenyan town of Iten, which is used as a winter base by British and other international athletes." The file of evidence -- which was gathered in cooperation with German broadcaster ARD/WRD -- includes:
- Claims by two doctors that they "gave a series of EPO injections to a British athlete shortly before a major race." They provided medical notes and blood test results "to show they had treated the athlete for an injury."
- Claims by a third Kenyan associated with them that three other Britons "were among the 50 athletes he had given banned performance-enhancing drugs to in the past four years."
- An allegation by a Kenyan athlete that a British athlete had "offered to fund a performance-enhancing drugs programme for him" (LONDON TIMES, 7/10).
'GRAVE CONCERN': In London, Katie Forster reported UKAD "sent two specialists to Kenya to investigate the allegations." In a statement, UKAD CEO Nicole Sapstead said that the footage was "of grave concern and of significant interest." Training center Owner Pieter Langerhorst said that the Iten camp had a "firm anti-doping policy, with 16 cameras set up to monitor activity." He said that there are "no refrigerators in any of the rooms" to prevent athletes storing EPO. UK Athletics has "dismissed the allegations" as "vague and unsubstantiated." In a statement, UK Athletics said, "None of the allegations as presented relating to British athletes accords with our experience" (
INDEPENDENT, 7/10). The AP reported the four British athletes accused of doping with EPO in western Kenya "were not named, although The Sunday Times said they knew the identity of at least one of them, and said that the athlete was already under suspicion for doping" (
AP, 7/10).
