Still, the International Olympic Committee opened an investigation after John Anzrah was found with Rotich’s Olympic accreditation, and provided the doping sample and signed doping forms in the name of Rotich, Kenyan team leader Stephen Arap Soi said.
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Anzrah pretended to be 800m runner Ferguson Rotich, who finished fourth at the World Championships past year and is a serious medal contender in Rio.
Citizen TV in Kenya claimed Anzrah may have been using the false accreditation in order to partake in free meals from the Olympic village.
A Kenyan coach has been sent home for posing as an athlete and submitting his urine sample in the athlete’s stead. “We can not tolerate such behaviour”, Kip Keino, chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK), said in a telephone interview from Rio.
So far Anzrah has not responded to requests for a comment. “We can not tolerate such behaviour”, Mr Keino said.
The source said “it was wrong for him to produce sample” and “signing samples as Ferguson Rotich”.
Arap Soi says Anzrah was kicked out because of “the crime he has committed against Team Kenya”.
The Kenyan camp confirmed that John Anzrah, a former Olympian himself, had given a urine sample to officials before they discovered his face did not match that of the athlete they were suppose to be testing. Kenya’s sports minister is also in Brazil with the team.
It comes two days after Michael Rotich, manager of the Kenyan athletics team, was arrested after being sent home following allegations in the Sunday Times he asked for pounds 10,000 bribes to give advance warning of tests.
He is accused of asking for money from journalists, who went undercover as representatives of athletes, to let them know when they would be tested.
WADA this month removed Kenya from its list of nations deemed “non-compliant” with its doping code.
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Four senior officials at Kenya’s track federation have been suspended by track’s governing body after being accused of trying to corrupt the anti-doping system.
