Former World Under-20 champion Rodgers Kwemoi has been hit with a six-year ban after the Istanbul Half Marathon winner was found to have violated anti-doping regulations, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said in a statement on Friday.
AIU said they notified Kwemoi about abnormalities detected in his ABP profile and that they were considering taking charges against him but did not respond within the given timeline, prompting the doping watchdog to come down hard on him.
The ban will be backdated to August 8, 2023 and Kwemoi’s competitions results from July 18, 2016 to 8 August 2023 will be disqualified.
The Japan-based athlete will lose the Istanbul Half Marathon title, 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medal and his junior world title from 2016 in the 10,000m.
“All the athlete’s results obtained since 18 July 2016 until the date that the provisional suspension was imposed are disqualified pursuant to Rules 9, 10.1, and 10.10 of the 2021 Anti-Doping Rules, with all resulting consequences including the forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, points, prizes, and prize and appearance money,” the AIU statement read.
The decision of the disciplinary tribunal indicates that Kwemoi engaged in a deliberate, systematic, and sophisticated doping regime, which would not have been possible without deliberate intent and the assistance of experts.
Kwemoi stormed into the limelight in 2016 by defeating Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo to win gold in the 2016 World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, before claiming bronze two years later as a Commonwealth debutant.
He finished fourth in the 2019 World Championships and seventh in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The 25-year-old athlete is part of the Kogyo Corporate team in Japan but has split his time between Kogyo and the Global Communication camp in Kaptagat, Kenya.
The athlete may challenge the decision through an appeal made to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
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