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≡ DOPING IN ATHLETICS ≡
The Athletics Integrity Unit is the independent arm of World Athletics which is charged with keeping the sport free from doping, manipulation and other ills, and has been busy with (mostly) doping sanctions over the past year.
It published its list of ineligible persons as of 31 December 2024 it runs to 29 pages of small type, in a spreadsheet format, listing 481 people from 75 national track & field federations who are temporary or permanently ineligible to compete in the sport.
There are some familiar countries at the top of the list, with 15 federations with 10 or more people excluded:
● 119: Kenya
● 108: India
● 73: Russia
● 26: China
● 20: Turkey
● 18: Italy
● 18: South Africa
● 17: Ukraine
● 16: United States
● 15: Morocco
● 14: Ethiopia
● 11: France
● 10: Belarus
● 10: Kuwait
● 10: Nigeria
World Athletics has 214 federations, so 139 had no one on the list!
But Kenya continues to be the leading offender and has had significant issues, requiring the AIU to warn Athletics Kenya of a possible suspension, leading to a government promise at the end of 2022 to provide $25 million U.S. in funding over five years for anti-doping programs.
But there were budget cuts in 2024, with Kenyan President William Ruto promising International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach (GER) during an October visit that funding for ADAK (Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya) work will be available.
But that has not stopped the AIU from continuing to suspend Kenyans. On Tuesday, Faith Chepchirchir was provisionally suspended on a charge of using the prohibited steroid Norandrosterone. Chepchirchir, 23, has a road 10 km best of 31:04 from 2023, which ranked her 34th in the world that year.
India is also a problem, at no. 2, and the AIU provisionally suspended Archana Jadhav, 29, a former national women’s 1,500 m champion, for using Oxandrolone.
And in comparison to the AIU ineligible list from two years earlier – 31 December 2022 – the numbers are way up for the two largest offenders:
● Kenya: 119 as of 31 Dec. 2024 vs. 54 at 31 Dec. 2022 (+65)
● India: 108 as of 31 Dec. 2024 vs. 65 at 31 Dec. 2022 (+43)
Russia, which had the most ineligibles – 92 – at 31 December 2022, is down to 73 as of the end of 2024.
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The U.S. has two stars whose eligibility will be restored in 2025 and it will be fascinating to see if they return and how they perform.
Distance star Shelby Houlihan was banned for four years after testing positive for the steroid Nandrolone in December 2020. She appealed, but was suspended from 14 January 2021 and will be eligible once again on 14 January 2025. Now 31, she was a 2016 Olympian in the 5,000 m and a finalist in the 2017 Worlds at 5,000 m (11th) and 2019 Worlds at 1,500 m (fourth). She is still the American Record holder in the 1,500 m at 3:54.99 from 2019, and is no. 2 at 5,000 m (14:23.92 in 2020).
Randolph Ross, 24, won the NCAA men’s 400 m title in 2021 in a world-leading 43.85 and won an Olympic 4×400 m relay gold in Tokyo, but was suspended for three years as of 22 June 2022 for “whereabouts” failures. He will be eligible again as of 30 June 2025, and with the U.S. Nationals being held very late this year (31 July to 3 August), he could try for the World Championships team if he gets a qualifying mark.
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