Kiprop tipped off about doping test

A drug-testing officer has admitted that he gave Kenyan runner Asbel Kiprop advance warning of a supposedly unannounced out-of-competition doping test, a clear violation of protocol that renews doubts about the reliability of anti-doping in the East African powerhouse of distance running.

Track and field's anti-doping unit described the officer's actions as "extremely disappointing" and said the IAAF's disciplinary tribunal will determine whether the tip-off rendered the test invalid. If so, the 1,500m Olympic champion from 2008 could escape sanction for the banned blood-boosting hormone EPO found in his urine sample.

Out-of-competition tests are supposed to be a surprise to maximise the chances of catching cheats unaware and to leave them no time to flush banned substances out of their system. The IAAF has previously acknowledged that because of difficulties in getting samples to labs quickly from remote regions where elite athletes train, the rules have been regularly bent in Kenya when collecting blood, with athletes told in advance of tests for the IAAF's biological passport program. But the IAAF insisted that athletes in Kenya get no advance notice for all other doping tests, including the collection of urine samples that don't have to reach labs so quickly.

Kiprop said not only was he tipped off the day before the November 27 test, but also that the doping control officer then asked him for money while collecting the sample. Kiprop said he wired funds to the man's mobile phone while he and another doping control officer were still in his house in Iten, Kenya. Kiprop did not say how much he supposedly paid, and he has yet to make public any electronic receipts.

"At that time, I did not see the money as inducement or bribe for anything," Kiprop said. "In retrospect, I now clearly see the money as having a relation with the sample collected on that date and even the irregular advance notice I was given."

The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees anti-doping for the IAAF, did not address Kiprop's allegation that funds changed hands in its statement yesterday about his test. It also did not respond to emailed questions from The Associated Press about the alleged financial transaction.

- AP