Kenya’s runaway success at the world athletics championships has been punctured by awkward questions after two of their athletes became the tournament’s first to fail drugs tests. The African nation has opened up a sizeable lead on the medals table but celebrations will be muted after the two suspensions were announced late on Tuesday.
Joyce Zakary’s Kenyan record of 50.71sec in the women’s 400m heats now carries a big question mark after she failed a pre-competition test, along with hurdler Koki Manunga.
The championships’ first doping cases follow a build-up dominated by lurid drugs allegations, with Kenya one of the countries in the firing line.
Leaked results cited by German broadcaster ARD and Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper claimed that more than 800 athletes, including 18 Kenyans, had “suspicious blood test results” between 2001 and 2012.
Kenyan officials were already investigating an alarming spike in doping cases in the country after more than 30 athletes failed tests in the past two years.
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