Problems looming for World Athletics. And by extension for its president, Sebastian Coe, declared candidate since the beginning of the week for the presidency of the IOC.
The threat of bad weather is being announced from Kenya. It concerns the issue of doping. The Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) has revealed to the national media that it has very recently suffered a severe budget cut by the national political authorities. It has received only a paltry sum of 20 million shillings, or just over $150.000 at current exchange rates, to cover its activities in the coming financial year. It had expected at least 288 million shillings, or $2,2 million.
The reason is not directly related to the doping case. The site newscentral explains that the government has cut a large number of budgets, across all sectors, after being forced to abandon a tax bill that sparked mass protests by the population last June.
ADAK was a victim of this, as were several other organizations or agencies dependent on state funding. The chairman of its board of directors, Daniel Makdwallo, explained this during a press briefing in Nairobi: " This decision is crippling the agency. It is preventing us from fulfilling our obligations. With such limited financial resources, we are at risk of not being able to comply with the World Anti-Doping Code. Today, I am calling on the Treasury to reconsider its funding and restore the agency's budget. We must protect Kenyan athletes."
Anywhere else, such a situation would be considered highly problematic. In Kenya, it is catastrophic. On the issue of doping, Kenyan athletics is clearly at the top of the list of bad students, with 78 athletes sanctioned over the last three years. The list is growing all the time. In June alone, for example, ADAK banned marathon runner Beatrice Toroitich for life (2:27:41 in 2012), and 10km road world record holder Rhonex Kipruto for a period of six years (26:24).
In 2022, a startling succession of doping cases among its athletes nearly threw Kenyan athletics into the abyss. The World Athletics Council debated its case at length, considering suspending the federation, as it did for Russia. The country had already been in Category A of countries under WADA surveillance for several years.
But the promises of the political authorities to invest 25 million dollars over five years in the fight against doping convinced the members of the Council of the body, Sebastian Coe at the head.
Since then, things have changed. On the field, Kenyan athletes continue to rack up medals. They won 11, including four gold, at the Paris 2024 Games, the second best collective result behind the United States (34 medals including 14 gold). Elsewhere, the promises of Nairobi have been forgotten.
How will World Athletics react? With Sebastian Coe in the running to succeed Thomas Bach, the response will be watched beyond the athletics community alone.
