Kenyan coach John Anzrah has been sent home from the Rio Olympics – accused of posing as athlete Ferguson Rotich and giving a urine sample to drug testers.
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Anzrah is the second Kenyan coach sent home from the summer games, along with track and field manager Michael Rotich.
National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) chairman Kip Keno told BBC that they would not tolerate such behavior. “We can not tolerate such behaviour”, Keino said in a telephone interview from Rio. “He was picked and taken to the doping control station purportedly as Ferguson Rotich and subjected to produce the sample and he signed”.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has opened disciplinary proceedings into the matter, but praised Kenya’s Olympic body for its “swift action”.
Rotich is now in custody in Nairobi while police investigate.
Anzrah was carrying the athlete’s accreditation – it’s been claimed he was using the pass so he could get a free breakfast.
“When the anti-doping officials met him, they assumed he was the athlete and that he was lined up for testing”, added the source. Anzrah was then approached by a doping control officer looking for Rotich to submit a urine sample. He is listed to compete in the heats of the men’s 800 on Friday alongside teammate David Rudisha, the Olympic champion and world-record holder.
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The former 61-year-old Olympic runner provided a urine sample under the name of Kenyan runner Ferguson Rotich. As the news broke, Kenyan deputy president William Ruto had just arrived in Rio to attend the Olympics. Kenya’s sports minister is also in Brazil with the team. Michael Rotich, who is also a regional official with Kenya’s athletics federation, was filmed seeking the bribes in Kenya in January and February, Britain’s The Sunday Times newspaper reported. Michael Rotich, a track and field coach, was sent home earlier after being implicated in a doping bribery scandal.
