When Kenyan distance runner Religion Chepchirchir acquired 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 assessments performed on the CZ Tilburg Ten Miles within the Netherlands on Sept. 29, 2024, and the Lisbon Half Marathon in Portugal per week in a while Oct. 6. Chepchirchir occurred to win each races, however since she was discovered doping, each outcomes can be annulled, stripping her of titles, awards and prize cash earned.
The athlete acquired discover from the AIU of her constructive check on Dec. 20 and was given a number of weeks to clarify the hostile 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 may also 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 (often lower than 2 ng/mL in urine). When anti-doping assessments discover a higher-than-normal degree in an athlete’s urine, it’s a pink flag that they might 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, nicely above the conventional bodily quantity, constituting an hostile 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 accountable for any prohibited substances discovered of their techniques” and harassed 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 International Listing of Ineligible Individuals already serving suspensions.
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