Athlete Michael Njenga Kunyuga has been handed an eight-year ban for the use of the prohibited substance Nandrolone.
According to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), Njenga was punished for lying to anti-doping officials following his provisional suspension in August.
The 36-year-old tested positive at the 2022 Riga Marathon in Latvia, where he finished second. He tested positive for Nandrolone (19-nortestosterone).
Njenga was given an alternative for accepting liability so that he could benefit from reduced suspension but he denied all the doping allegations prompting the Athletics Integirity Unity to launch a full-scale investigation.
During the hearing, the marathon runner claimed that he experienced knee and back pain in 2021 and took painkillers to ease the pain. Apparently, it had an adverse effect on his stomach, so he stopped taking them.
He said in January 2022, he had been advised to seek alternative medication for his knee pain because he could not manage his training load.
Njenga told the investigating officials that he then went for a check-up at the Nyahururu County Referral Hospital and was prescribed injections of Depomedrol every three months.
To support his explanation, Njenga submitted two medical documents dated January 18, 2022. Apparently from the Nyahururu County Referral Hospital to a Laboratory Request and Report Form, and a letter from a doctor at the hospital, confirming that he had been diagnosed with osteoarthritis and that he was to be treated by intramuscular injection of Depomedrol (methylprednisolone) and vitamin B complex.
On September 1, 2022, the AIU wrote to Njenga indicating that his explanation and documents related to ingestion of Depomedrol and vitamin B complex did not explain the presence of 19- Norandrosterone in his sample.
That led the Integrity Unity to ban him for eight years.
The doping saga had become a menace in the country forcing various government agencies to intervene. Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba recently hosted a session with international race organizers to sensitize athletes on the dangers of doping.
