In a rare twist of events, embattled Kenyan Athlete, Asbel Kiprop wanted athletes who tested positive for doping be jailed!
At the time, Kenya was dogged by widespread allegations of using banned substances to enhance performance.
Kiprop took the opportunity to advocate for a jail term for any athlete who was found to be doping.
“I said two years ago in Doha that dopers should be jailed. I maintain that, although it should not be done retrogressively,” he told Reuters in 2016, at the Kenya Police Championships on the outskirts of the east African capital.
This came after President Kenyatta signed into law a bill that sought to ban doping among athletes.
“I am a lucky athlete because this law has come during my time. Our (Kenya’s) name has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. From now on, dopers should serve jail terms. But those already banned should just serve their sanctions,” he said.
April, 27, 2018, Asbel Kiprop took to his social media to air his grievances after he was handed a four-year ban by the Anti-doping agencies at the IAAF.
Kiprop, who is the 2008 1500m Olympic champion called for the Kenya National Police Service to dismiss him from his job as a connstable.
Kiprop also requested the police to arrest him before he could use his firearm to “earn himself justice.”
By the evening of the same day, Kiprop had surrendered himself to the police.
In the tweet that generated mixed reactions, almost tearing the police service apart, Inspector general of Police Hillary Mutyambai called for the athlete to seek counselling while the deputy IG seemed angered by Kiprop’s reaction.
As a result, he promised stern actions against Kiprop, saying that he knew the right channels to seek for redress.
“We don’t condone such behaviour from our officers. Channels of addressing personal grievances are provided in the NPS rules and regulations and firm administrative action will be taken,” said Mr Joseph Kiget-Police Deputy IG in charge of Logistics and Functions.
Kiprop had hired a prolific Kenyan lawyer-Katwa Kigen- in the months leading up to the ban.
His defense was that the samples that tested positive for the banned substances may have been contaminated or mixed with that of a different person.
The Anti-doping agency, however, went ahead to hand Kiprop the ban.
He called for the agency to come for the medals he had earned over the years, saying he doesn’t need them on his house wall.