When Kenyan distance runner Religion Chepchirchir obtained discover of a four-year suspension from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) earlier this month after testing constructive, twice, for the anabolic steroid norandrosterone, she admitted to the wrongdoing to obtain a one-year discount. Nevertheless, she confessed she “couldn’t bear in mind how the substance entered her physique.”
The AIU has banned Religion Chepchirchir Kiprotich (Kenya) for 3 years from 23 December 2024 for Presence/Use of a Prohibited Substance (Norandrosterone). DQ outcomes from 29 September 2024
Particulars right here: https://t.co/BK6pbm8kNS pic.twitter.com/d5wS20f2ZC
— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) January 14, 2025
The 23-year-old examined constructive for the prohibited substance throughout in-competition exams carried out on the CZ Tilburg Ten Miles within the Netherlands on Sept. 29, 2024, and the Lisbon Half Marathon in Portugal every week afterward Oct. 6. Chepchirchir occurred to win each races, however since she was discovered doping, each outcomes will likely be annulled, stripping her of titles, awards and prize cash earned.
The athlete obtained discover from the AIU of her constructive take a look at on Dec. 20 and was given a couple of weeks to elucidate the opposed findings to the anti-doping group. On Jan. 8, 2025, Chepchirchir wrote to the AIU accepting that she took the prohibited substance however couldn’t bear in mind the way it entered her physique.
Norandrosterone is a metabolite of nandrolone, which might help distance runners speed up muscle development and restoration. The drug has been listed on the World Anti-Doping Company’s Prohibited Listing since 2001. Like different anabolic steroids, norandrosterone is often administered by injections.
The physique does naturally produce norandrosterone, though in small quantities (normally lower than 2 ng/mL in urine). When anti-doping exams discover a higher-than-normal stage in an athlete’s urine, it’s a crimson flag that they could have taken the banned substance. Based on the AIU, Chepchirchir’s urine pattern after the Lisbon Half Marathon on Oct. 6 confirmed a focus above 15 ng/mL, properly above the traditional bodily quantity, constituting an opposed analytical discovering.
‘I don’t bear in mind how I doped’, says Religion Chepchirchir https://t.co/GdygDag1xp pic.twitter.com/zUqXVPsECK
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) January 15, 2025
The AIU reiterated that athletes are “solely answerable for any prohibited substances discovered of their methods” and burdened the significance of upholding clean-sport ideas.
Chepchirchir was the primary Kenyan athlete to be handed a doping ban in 2025, becoming a member of 120 athletes on the World Listing of Ineligible Individuals already serving suspensions.
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