Prague, 17 May 2023
PRESS RELEASE
Experts on Kipruto:
Facts say he is not cheating. ABP should protect clean athletes, not bully them.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has informed athlete, Rhonex Kipruto, of alleged inconsistencies, which date back to autumn 2018, in blood values recorded in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP). The AIU has not directly accused the athlete of using any prohibited substances or methods, but Kipruto is provisionally suspended and was requested to provide an explanation, which of course the athlete and independent experts have already submitted.
Despite the fact that we must accept the “presumption of guilt”, per anti-doping rules in place – we struggle to accept seeing athletes treated like criminals.
We are presenting the most important questions and answers about Rhonex, his background and why we believe him when he says that he is a clean athlete.
“Let us be very clear: World is full of cheating and deceit. We are not naive, doping is, unfortunately, part of a bigger scheme of things. We know that doping and performance enhancing drugs are a problem of modern society, not just of sport – from boardroom and bedroom, to arts, academia, to pressures of modern-day living, all the way to amateur, professional, university and high school sports.
We know this applies to athletes, as well, and we understand that this raises concerns. We are fighting against doping, we have zero tolerance for cheating, and we support development of the Athlete Biological Passport. However, imagine a scenario where a policeman stops you and tries to imprison you without any direct or even indirect proof, saying you have committed some undefined terrible crime, which now you need to prove to have not committed, while addressing various indirect hypotheses of what might have happened with your body months and years ago. This is a presumption of guilt! Kafkaesque drama, one could say. Unfortunately, the “guilty until proven innocent” principle rules the life of an athlete in these cases. (While we believe the standard of comfortable satisfaction shall prevail and the accused person shall remain innocent until proven guilty.)
The case has been under scrutiny for some time now, intensely engaging the agent, coach and assistant coach, staff and, of course, independent experts as well as the athlete himself. It is affecting Rhonex’s mental and physical performance. We have already spent more than USD 30,000, which is a huge amount of money in the distance running world. This is trial before trial, and this is somewhat schizophrenic – we are asked to explain ourselves, but are not provided with sufficient information. Without engaging experts, legal team and incurring significant expenses, one can’t provide sufficiently detailed and reasoned explanations and replies rooted in science, data analytics, etc. The absurd thing is we are not in a position of a level playing field. This is injustice. We will, of course, fully cooperate and be totally transparent. We urge the AIU to do the same.” says Davor Savija, Rhonex Kipruto’s agent at the Ikaika Sports agency.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES
Dr. Douwe de Boer, biochemist, independent expert 1:
“A potential lack of transparency is arguably unfair to innocent athletes. Without all the details, how can athletes adequately defend themselves? As pressure to reinforce sanctions increases, so too should the pressure to release more results.”
T. G. H. Wiggers MSc, MD, sports medicine physician, independent expert 2:
“In my opinion, there is insufficient evidence to find this athlete guilty of an ADRV because there is insufficient quality of the analytical procedures (sample taking until registration of the test results) and because there are physiological reasons that can explain his test results.”
Jiří Dostal MD, physiologist, independent expert 3:
“Overall – there are other plausible explanations of the ABP values other than doping only, as proposed by the panel of experts. Based on the data provided, the experts did not look at the broad picture of all possible biological factors that can explain the ABP values, and they focused on one explanation only – doping. I call on the expert panel to examine the influence of the following factors which the athlete probably suffered over the past years: overall erratic training program during Covid-19 pandemics which could have led to the significant changes in plasma volumes and related haematological parameters; frequent de-training and re-commencement of training due to series of serious infectious diseases and illness; last, but not the least, significant consumption of alcohol. All those confounding factors might have a significant impact on the hematopoiesis and can explain the APF.”
Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA):
“World Anti-Doping Code in certain cases railroads innocent athletes into four year sanctions. At our last count, we recorded 27 cases where athletes did absolutely nothing wrong but were treated like intentional cheats. Athletes have been unjustly charged with a violation and publicly recognised for ingesting a prohibited substance from a completely innocent source.”
Source: https://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/us-pro-sport-sanction-issue-highlights-wada-politics/
Brother Colm, Rhonex Kipruto’s coach:
“I carefully choose who I work with and to whom I dedicate my energy. I know Rhonex is an honest young man and it hurts me to see him suffering now. Our strategy is to train hard, and that's the only way we achieve results. I have said many times that I am in favour of systematically combating doping so that we can protect clean athletes like Rhonex.”
Rhonex Kipruto:
“I don't cheat or dope! The truth is on my side. This is all I can say.”
IMPORTANT FACTS AND FIGURES
At the same time, it is very hard to understand that if a particular haemoglobin value was and is of such significance to the panel of experts, how could the athlete be allowed to compete for almost four years, without question being asked about that particular haemoglobin value.
ABOUT US
Rhonex Kipruto. Prodigy.
Rhonex (23) is an extremely unique talent. He is a long distance runner, 10,000m World U20 champion (2018), 10,000m World Championships bronze medallist (2019) and current World record holder over 10 km (Valencia 2020). In 2017, he won both 10,000m and cross country High Schools Championships titles in Kenya – historically, a major achievement and a clear indicator of an enormous talent.
Coached by Brother Colm O'Connell.
Rhonex’s coach is Colm O'Connell, holder of the World Athletics Coaching Achievement Award in 2019. Brother Colm has not had a single doping case in his nearly 50-year career. He is nicknamed "the Godfather of Kenyan running". He is a non-scientific and old-fashioned coach with superb results.
How does the Ikaika Sports agency fight doping?
We have a strict policy of transparency, clean sport and zero tolerance for cheating. We educate our athletes, we communicate with them regularly, we explain all the rules and help them to follow all the right procedures and the rules.
All our internal rules are regularly updated and available for athletes in Swahili and English. We teach athletes not to run the risk of even unintentional doping. We emphasise compliance with whereabouts and warn athletes, for example, about the risks associated with drugs that are permitted during OOC periods, but are prohibited IC. We highlight enormous dangers and risks associated with medical products, supplements, creams and ointments and everything and anything that can enter athletes’ bodies.
What happens when anti-doping rule violations of any of your athletes are confirmed?
We have a strict anti-doping policy. In case of anti-doping rule violations (ADRV) by athletes we work with, we end our cooperation with immediate effect. We are also committed to full repayment (to the event organisers affected by the ADRV) of our commission earned from said athletes’ competition-related earnings. We consider each ADRV to be of great significance and damage to us as agency, to our team, and we perceive ourselves as victims and collateral damage of doping.
MORE ANSWERS FROM DAVOR SAVIJA
(Appendix)
How do you explain the inconsistencies in Rhonex’s Athlete Biological Passport?
First of all, we are very open and we hope everybody in this matter will have the same approach. As independent experts explain:
So far, who provided you with other experts’ opinions?
Dr. Douwe de Boer, biochemist
T. G. H. Wiggers MSc, MD, sports medicine physician
Jiří Dostal MD, physiologist
Assoc. Prof. Martin Kuchař, Ph.D.
Jan Krabec, Mgr., LL.M.
Michiel van Dijk, advocate
Team of additional experts (who need to remain anonymous as of now) from the fields of haematology, medicine and sports medicine.
What are the ABP shortcomings in the case of Kenyan athletes?
The passport should protect clean athletes and help to catch cheaters. But this balance is not achieved. The “comfortable satisfaction” standard of proof is not achieved in this case. However, the consequences are severe – if convicted, the athlete can be banned for 6 years.
Our understanding is that the ABP adaptive model is potentially not accurate with respect to East African athletes, especially in relation to 1% of a 1% when it comes to absolute talent, born and raised in harshest conditions, but still being able to perform at the pinnacle of human ability.
Event organisers, athletes, agents and sports goods manufacturers are all funding AIU’s testing. But the AIU is not sharing data with us. We do not even know if and how the East Africans, and specifically enormous talents, were directly taken into considerations when building the Adaptive Model.
We agree with Dr. Douwe de Boer that the explanation of abnormalities in an Athlete Biological Passport and the burden of proof is for an athlete of an increasing concern as the science behind those abnormalities is very complex. Therefore, all applicable data should be made accessible by both parties involved. In terms of the relevance of data, one party should not be dependent on the other party, which will then determine for itself whether the data are relevant or not. The balance between the liability of any athlete and the severity of a sanction as potentially be given after an Adverse Passport Finding (APF), should be kept in mind.
Contrary to the non-transparent system of the passport cases, the “real world” criminal cases require the prosecution to disclose and present all information in the file to the defendant who thus has the ability to properly recognize, assess and react to the accusations. Furthermore, any criminal case needs to be painted and the accused proven guilty by the prosecution beyond all reasonable doubt. In our case, that is highly dependent on the dynamics of several important values (such as EtG - ethyl glucuronide, the marker of the alcohol consumption, etc.), the values were not provided from the very start, then denied to be provided and later, after legal discussions, we received some isolated pieces of information that needed to be further clarified.
Can you share an example of any other data being hidden?
Ferritin is a protein that stores iron in the human body, mainly in the liver and bone marrow. A small proportion of ferritin circulates in the blood and this level strongly correlates with the concentration of intracellular iron (Anderson GJ et al, Am J Clin Nutr. 2017 and Andrews N, Blood. 2018).
Ferritin concentration in blood is a very sensitive and early indicator of iron deficiency. In case of iron overload, the concentration can also be informative. In conditions of frequent blood transfusions, in which iron may accumulate in the body, it may be an indicator for these transfusions. To the contrary, a decrease of ferritin concentration is a strong indication of blood withdrawal.
Therefore, results of ferritin concentration have to be interpreted with caution. If any data are available regarding ferritin measured by anti-doping authorities, it is important and essential for the defence of the athlete that these data are made accessible.
On 3 June 2022 AIU representative refused to provide the missing information, especially refusing to provide information that we and our experts consider to be crucial for the evaluation of the case, including (among others) – ferritin values.
We would like to point out that with respect to one of the samples, the ferritin values have been provided by the AIU. All other lab packages have the information either redacted or missing entirely. It is therefore clear the ferritin values could have been provided in a timely fashion if there was a willingness to do so by the AIU.
Are you cooperating with the AIU?
We call for better testing and monitoring of athletes. We made a written offer of our cooperation to the AIU in 2020 – the opportunity to test and monitor our elite Kenyan athletes directly in Kenya or elsewhere, 24 hours a day for as long as needed, with the goal to understand physiology of some of the best athletes on our planet in various conditions and at various times during their seasons: early training; specific training; pre-competition weeks; competition week; post-competition period. Unfortunately, to date we have not received any response from the AIU and we remain hopeful that we could play a positive role and be part of such study.
Furthermore, in 2023, we have approached the World Athletics and AIU and offered to introduce a group of the best Kenyan athletes in the world to participate in a complex study to track total haemoglobin mass (tHb-mass) values over time in parallel to ABP, that would allow for further strengthening of the anti-doping efforts, including (but not limited to) further deterrence from doping among athletes.
Every doper does the same, doubting the system. What would be your answer?
We don’t doubt the system. We support the system. AIU can monitor our athletes from the very beginning of their careers, as we have reached out to AIU on various occasions, informing them of potential future stars of our sport, with the goal to have them included in Registered Testing Pool (RTP), as early as possible and preferably before breakthroughs. We only call for a balanced system that is transparent, fair, professional and that protects clean athletes.
What do you consider the major challenges of the anti-doping system when it comes to athlete monitoring by agents and coaches?
AIU, which is at the forefront of available science, should be guiding interested National Federations, athletes, coaches, agents and support personnel on tests that could be done with athletes during the year, with a goal for interested parties to further learn about medical and doping risks that can flag blood and steroid passports. Balance between 1) catching dopers and 2) protecting investments of event organisers, sports goods manufacturers and agents needs to be achieved.
With this in mind, we are disclosing details of this case to 1) educate our clients, coaches and staff; 2) to reach as many stakeholders as possible in the sport of track and field and road running.
What is the future of ABP in your opinion?
We will see what happens to the system in the next 5-15 years. The ABP is very much needed, there is no doubt about it. However, we are especially interested in what will happen when we have high-profile football or tennis players being charged, with multi-million-dollar legal teams on board. This will bring real challenges to the system and hopefully bring us a more fair system. Justice is, unfortunately, very expensive.
Let’s think about the statistics and consider why there is not one ABP case that has occurred in top level professional football while UEFA itself claims it has in fact been testing blood since 2008.
What do you think about delays in informing about flagged samples?
System is slow. Who wants to cheat, cheats. But on the other hand innocent athletes are challenged months and years after certain samples are flagged, and that brings so much uncertainty.
We ask the industry to discuss the alternative in which flagged samples would be communicated early and the athlete would be asked for medical, training and lifestyle explanations in real-time. If you are caught speeding in a car, you are challenged by the authorities almost instantly, instead of being challenged after a certain number of similar speeding events. We should use common sense. Our proposition is to minimise the opportunities that will create pointless scandals.
Balance between “catching someone” and more active deterrence from doping should be looked at by the World Athletics, AIU, event organisers and their partners, sports goods manufacturers, sponsors, media, athletes and agents. We owe that much to ourselves and to our sport.
Final concern to share?
Ikaika Sports agency manages the whereabouts of all Kenyan athletes we work with who are part of various OOC RTPs. Goal was to help athletes build healthy whereabouts habits. Motivated by what has transpired in relation to Rhonex’s ABP, we considered asking WADA, in close coordination with athletes we work with, to disclose to us on Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) values of all blood and urine tests, as would be the case if athletes managed their individual ADAMS accounts themselves. All of that data and information is currently hidden from us, inaccessible due to implemented “privacy” policies. As a result of the case in hand – that being our first ABP case – we even started hiring experts that would be able to access and read the passport data in real time and alert us on any potential irregularities, so that we can appropriately respond, approach the athletes and assess the situation, including medical check-ups, anti-doping investigation and education, etc. Unfortunately, we learned that is not possible in the current environment.
We have learned from WADA the following: “At its September 2021 meeting, WADA’s Executive Committee approved a change removing athletes’ real-time access permissions to their Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) hematological data in ADAMS. Evidence from the Operation Aderlass investigation revealed that some athletes were able to monitor this data in ADAMS, with the help of support personnel, in order to calibrate their doping strategy and avoid detection. Further evidence shows athletes are sometimes pressured to reveal their ABP blood data publicly or to their sporting teams or associations precisely because of their direct access to it, leading to undue stigmatization and discrimination. The change brings access to ABP blood data in line with most other anti-doping data, including laboratory results, that athletes equally do not have access to in ADAMS.”
Source:
We are not a football club and we cannot monitor our clients every day. We are very restricted in terms of direct “control” of the athletes we work with. There are hardly any tools available on how to monitor athletes and, therefore, minimise the risks of ADRVs.
Furthermore, we are highly concerned by changes in WADA’s policies, as reconstructing whereabouts in complex ABP cases is highly demanding, time-consuming and sensitive process, especially as experts AIU consults with reference certain biomarkers in relation to travel and, specifically, exact times of descent from high altitude and ascent back to high altitude.
We discovered massive errors on sensitive biomarkers, with experts alleging that Rhonex was at low altitude for a day, while during reconstruction of the whereabouts we learned that the sample in question was taken less than 3 hours after arrival to sea level. We also discovered that the very same OOC sample was referenced by the experts against another sample, for which experts claimed to have been taken after a day at sea level, while indeed that sample was collected after four days at sea level and in the evening hours (IC) after a hard 10,000m competition in warm and humid conditions.
While working on reconstructing Rhonex’s whereabouts for over almost 3.5 years, we have learned from WADA and I quote: “The complete whereabouts are available for 12 months as of the end of the quarter for which they were submitted. These complete whereabouts are directly available to your client in ADAMS. After this period, only city and country values, as well as in-competition whereabouts are retained for limited purposes related to the Athlete Biological Passport.”
MORE INFO AT:
Ikaika Sports agency, PR Team
e-mail: prteam@ikaikasports.com
ABOUT IKAIKA SPORTS
Ikaika Sports identifies, educates and develops young talents to become the next generation of middle and long distance running superstars. We are based in Prague, Czech Republic but cooperate with trusted colleagues all around the world. Our combined experience well exceeds 150 man-years in sports agency business. Our clients achieved 8 World records, won 5 medals from both senior and junior World Championships, 1 Olympic medal and recorded numerous top three finishes in road running events around the globe. We are consultant for adidas Running on adidas Marathon Athlete Development Program and together with RunCzech we manage and promote the RunCzech Racing team. We support African charities - Tirop’s Angels and Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
ENDS