Editor's Note: Cheptegai's agent says he hasn't heard anything about a ban and this was likely confusion between the journalist and the Ugandan Federation.
"They feel like they are above the rules. Every athlete deserves a fair opportunity. This is how it used to be in Kenya where athletes will not compete in trials but still qualify for world championships. This was very unfair to those who actually show up to compete but wouldn't get a spot because it is reversed for the "special ones". I'm glad it's no longer this way in Kenya. Bravo Uganda Federation. This behavior would have killed this spot in your country."
Ugandan athletics federation? More like amateur hour. No wonder there's a lot of political and leadership corruption in Africa, coupled with astoundingly poor decisions. Kiplimo and Cheptegai deserve better.
Ugandan Athletics Federation is having a massive powertrip thinking they can ban Cheptegei and Kiplimo, the greatest athletes to ever come out of their country.
They'll run anyway. With or without Uganda. Theyre greater than the country thats lucky to be represented by them.
Some on the thread clearly did not read the article and think this has something to do with cheating. The insanity of banning over 60 plus athletes for beurocratic nonsense fits right in with the pattern of some of these nations. If there is some kind of registration or paperwork error for that many athletes probably some issue in the process. It was not clear what the actually ban meant for the athletes.
Some of these athletes earn prizes that are equivalent (or more) to a very nice salary in Uganda. If they were fined and then re-instated, where would the money go? (Duh...) On the other hand, it is possible that these "bans" may be lifted by a bit of back-hand or baksheesh...
Banned for signing up and then not showing up for trials without good reason. The proper thing would have been for them to cancel out.
he problem is that in corrupt countries these same athletes will skip the trails and still be part of the team. Not saying this would be the case with Cheptegei and Kiplimo etc but its common enough.
Sometimes blame also goes to management, who dont want them to run without a payday at the end.
Sure, some athletes were banned and among those was someone called Cheptegei and a Kiplimo. But none of those was Joshua Cheptegei or Jacob Kiplimo.
From the government-owned daily, where none of the two is mentioned (not some random Kenyan blog that can't even change its favicon from default wordpress):
The suspension that was announced on Saturday afternoon was sanctioned on grounds of failure to surface for requisite trials and other related misbehavior.UAF director of competitions, Faustino Kiwa announced the development...