Doping officials assure Kenyan Rio 2016 athletes over testing

Kenyan athletes have been guaranteed increased doping tests at the Rio 2016 Olympics team camp in the northwestern town of Eldoret were not meant to disrupt their preparations for the August Summer Games.

Regional Anti-Doping Organization (Rado) Africa Zone V officials who visited the camp on Wednesday also advised the runners to avoid taking supplements whose distribution in the country was not regulated to avoid risks of testing positive.

They were on a mission to explain to the athletes the reasons behind the increased drug testing that has led some of the members of the track and field team to complain they were being ambushed by the Doping Control Officials (DCOs) and the frequency of the tests.

"We had to ensure the team knows why we do what we do and to make sure they are prepared going forward going to Rio and give them confidence to give samples because we are here to protect the clean athlete.

"And to ensure the level playing field for the clean athlete is there and they stand a chance to win based on talent, not medication," Rado Zone V Executive Manager, Christine Mugera, noted.

During the exercise, anti-doping officials took the athletes through the latest prohibited substances list, encouraged them not to self-medicate and seek a doctor' s counsel and to stay away from supplements.

"There is nothing these supplements give them that a good diet that cannot give them. We are just letting them know there will be doping control even in Rio," she added.

Rado assisted by officials from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) have been implementing the International Olympics Committee (IOC) directive of testing Kenyan athletes three or more times before the Rio for them to be admitted to the competition.

Kenya was placed under world athletics governing body, the IAAF watch list and the nation is still waiting to be declared compliant to the Wada Code following the May 12 verdict to outlaw the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya.

The country's government initially passed an Anti-Doping Law that was declared faulty by the Wada leading to the non-compliant ruling but less than a month later, the Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill of 2016 was passed and signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta who is said to have asked to see the results of the anti-doping process of the Rio 2016 team personally. Endit