WHERE ARE THE RESULTS. DR PAUL DIMEO DID A 2 YEAR STUDY AND THE RESULTS WERE TO COME OUT AFTER JANUARY 2012.
Anti doping body to work on Kenya
administrator
kenya_athletics
A University of Stirling expert on doping in sport has been selected to
investigate the prevalence or otherwise of performance enhancing drugs amongst
Kenya's elite-level runners.
Dr Paul Dimeo, author of the critically acclaimed A History of Drug Use in
Sport, has been selected by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) to carry out a
two-year project entitled Doping Behaviour, Causes and Prevention in Elite Level
Kenyan Athletes: an empirical investigation.
Kenya has a strong record of success in international athletics, particularly in
middle and long distance running, with all 14 of its 2008 Beijing Olympic medals
coming from running events.
Reigning Olympic gold medallists Asbel Kiprop and Brimin Kipruto, who claimed
the 1,500 metres and 3,000 metres steeplechase titles respectively in China,
will be in Scotland this weekend to compete in the BUPA Great Edinburgh
International Cross Country Run.
But while Kenyan athletes are household names on the international stage, little
is known about their own knowledge of drugs - some of which may inadvertently
fall foul of the WADA code.
"Kenyan athletes are not widely suspected of doping, with only eight high
profile cases in the last 20 years and several of these included taking
substances such as clomiphene and salbutamol, which might have been for medical
purposes," said Dr Dimeo, Director of taught postgraduate programmes in Sports
Management and Sports Coaching at Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence.
"Yet there is a feeling some global policy makers are anxious about the Kenyan
context and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has
targeted Kenyan athletes for out-of competition tests due to its lack of an
established national anti-doping agency.
"WADA are also concerned about anti-doping in Kenya because it doesn't report
the statistics of national level testing. My research will look to identify if
there is a problem in Kenyan running, but it's also about getting an
understanding of the attitudes and practices of athletes, coaches and sports
staff in Kenya towards doping in athletics."
International sport has been plagued by the use of performance enhancing
chemically produced substances such as amphetamines, steroids, HgH, EPO and
other advanced chemical innovations since the 1960s.
However, naturally occurring plants in Kenya, such as mirra and khat, may
contain traces of substances noted on the WADA list, increasing athletes'
chances of testing positive in a doping control whether deliberately or
inadvertently.
And a further issue surrounds the insufficient access in Kenya to the internet,
where much of the anti-doping information is held.
Dr Dimeo added: "There have been a number of studies to try and understand why
Africans and Kenyans in particular have been so successful in athletics, but no
research examining the risks posed by lack of information or how anti-doping
policies and educational initiatives function in African countries.
"There is an important sociological dimension in that most Kenyan athletes will
cross national boundaries for education, coaching, training and of course
competition so Kenya cannot be looked at in isolation.
"So any global flow of knowledge must be related to indigenous traditions, body
cultures, diets and such like which go a long way to inform the moral values and
socialisation of elite athletes."
Dr Dimeo will gather the project information in partnership with academics at
Kenyatta University in Nairobi, including former international runner Professor
Mike Boit and Dr Vincent Onywera, from the Department of Recreation Management
and Exercise Science.
It is hoped the project will be completed by January 2012, with its findings due
to be presented to WADA, the Kenyan sports authorities as well as to the
International Olympic Committee, IAAF and the Commonwealth Games Federation.
Michele Verroken, the former Director of Ethics and Anti-Doping at UK Sport, now
advises many sports bodies on anti-doping in her role as Director of sports
business consultancy, Sporting Integrity, and she believes Dr Dimeo's project
can offer new insights into anti-doping.
She said: "This research project will be incredibly important to help explain
better how athletes find out about doping and anti-doping, the risks and the
dangers in order to develop more relevant education and information programmes.
Athletes' exposure to doping information abroad and at home must be investigated
to assess the implications of the information they received and how to improve
the quality of this information."