NAIROBI, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's former Commonwealth champion Joyce Chepkirui has been banned for four years after losing an appeal at the Court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The 33-year-old who finished second at the 2016 New York City and Boston marathons was provisionally suspended in June 2019 after an expert panel studied anomalies in her Athletes Biological Passport (ABP) blood samples collected by World Athletics between 2016 and 2017.
At the same time, CAS said in a statement on Wednesday that the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya should pay 247,130 shillings (2,140 U.S. dollars) to World Athletics as a contribution toward its legal costs and other expenses.
"A period of ineligibility of four years is imposed on Chepkirui starting from June 28, 2019. All competitive results of Chepkirui from April 6, 2016 to August 4, 2017 are to be disqualified, with all resulting consequences, including forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, profits, prizes and appearance monies," the CAS judgment signed by Sole Arbitrator, Annette Rombach read in part.
Chepkirui won the 10,000m gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 before adding the African title over the same distance in Marrakech that year.
The Kenyan who enjoyed a string of victories in Europe in half marathons and road races had appealed her case to CAS claiming the abnormalities in her ABP were due to medication and her diet.
Kenya is still listed as a category A nation by the World Anti-Doping Agency, meaning the country remains at high risk for doping.
This means athletes from the east African nation need to undergo three out of competition tests in a 10-month period before a World Championships or Olympic Games.
Athletics Kenya and ADAK had supported Chepkirui in her appeal to CAS. ■
