ADAK confident of delivering clean Kenyan team to Paris Olympics 2024
6th July 2024
ADAK has been at the forefront of combating the doping menace in Kenya which has been on a sharp rise.
- ADAK has already done mandatory testing for all teams headed to the 2024 Summer Games in the French capital.
- ADAK has also tested 1348 athletes in other disciplines and reached 16,512 stakeholders, by and large.
- Athletics has been tested more than other disciplines given the fact that it had been categorized as a high-risk sport.
The Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) is confident that they
will present a clean team to the forthcoming 2024 Olympic Games set to be held
in Paris, France from 26 July to 11 August 2024.
ADAK’s head of Anti-Doping Education and Research, Dr.
Martin Sisa, noted that the Agency has already done mandatory testing for all
teams headed to the 2024 Summer Games in the French capital.
Dr. Sisa revealed that the testing started in September 2023
through to the stipulated World Athletics deadline on 4 July 2024.
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Speaking during the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya/Anti-Doping
Seminar held in Naivasha, Dr. Sisa added that ADAK has already tested more than
4135 athletes and reached out to 8500 stakeholders in athletics alone.
He noted that ADAK has also tested 1348 athletes in other
disciplines and reached 16,512 stakeholders, by and large.
Dr Sisa clarified that athletics has been tested more than
other disciplines given the fact that it had been categorized as a high-risk
sport.
“We have been working closely with the WADA Africa office
who have been very supportive to our programs. We are also working hand in hand
with the regional anti-doping organization to advance the fight against
doping,” said Dr Sisa.
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“We have been doing a lot of testing for athletes over the
past one year to ensure that we deliver a clean team to the Olympics. We have
also undertaken both testing and education for the athletes and their
entourages and the program is taking shape considerably well,” he noted.
Sisa continued: “We have tested more numbers compared to
other anti-doping originations globally and there are athletes who have been
tested more than thrice just to ensure that all is well. We wanted to do an
out-of-competition testing ostensibly to deliver an intelligence-based
testing.”
Dr Sisa added that they are helping the Olympic team by
visiting them in their camps for testing and sensitizing them on anti-doping
“in order to deliver a clean sport and indeed avert the myriad cases witnessed
during the Rio Olympics in 2016.”
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SJAK President James Waindi, on his part, thanked ADAK for
their unwavering support and partnership with sports scribes over the years.
“It’s a great honor to be here again. We thank ADAK for
making this workshop an annual event. This year’s workshop is particularly a
significant one given that this is an Olympic year and that journalists need a
lot of education in understanding the dynamics of doping,” Waindi said.
ADAK CEO Sarah Shibutse, whose speech was read by Dr. Sisa,
underscored the input of sports scribes as key stakeholders in the campaign
against doping.
“Journalists can contribute to the fight by exposing doping scandals through investigative journalism and uncover doping practices, often bringing hidden issues to light. By exposing these scandals, they can prompt action from sports authorities and the government,” said Shibutse.
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