The news is very recent and very heavy: Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich has been preemptively suspended from competitions for failing to show up for surprise doping controls. The 37-year-old Kenyan is not just any elite athlete (assuming an elite athlete can be one): in addition to being one of the strongest marathon runners in recent years, he also held the world record for some time established in Berlin in 2013 stopping the clock at 2 hours, 3 minutes and 23 seconds.
But this is not the only notable achievement in Kipsang’s remarkable career: he was also a bronze medalist in the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics and won in New York, London twice and Tokyo.
The charge, it should be specified, is not precisely that he was found positive for doping but that he failed to show up for 3 surprise checks by the Integrity Unit of World Athletics and attempted to alter a fourth.
The expected, but not yet imposed, disqualification may be up to 4 years. Dutchman Gerard Van De Veen, his prosecutor, defends him by saying that he has not been found positive for any substance and therefore the violation is only alleged.