Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has banned former world half marathon record holder Kibiwott Kandie for violating anti doping rules.
The anti doping watch dog handed the Kenyan long distance runner seven years after refusing to submit to a doping test and tampering with the doping control process, which are offence in fight against doping in sports.
In a statement, the AIU wrote: “Former half marathon world record- holder and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, Kibiwoott Kandie, has been banned for seven years by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after admitting to two Anti- Doping Rule Violations, a refusal to submit to sample collection and tampering with the doping control process.”
According to AIU, the runner should have been handed eight years but he accepted the violations hence the ban reduced by a year to 7 that runs from March 14, 2025, the date of his provisional suspension, all the way to March 13, 2032.
“Despite signing the electronic Doping Control Form to acknowledge he was required to provide samples, Kandie delayed the Sample collection process and was observed making numerous phone calls before ultimately refusing to cooperate with the DCO, informing him he ‘had an important payment to make’ to National Construction Authority officers who were about to close down his construction site two hours away in Eldoret,” stated AIU.
After the failed test, AIU investigators conducted forensic analysis of Kandie’s phone and financial records, uncovering 11 money transfers to a registered nurse in Eldoret in the 12 months before the test.
To challenge his provisional suspension, Kandie submitted a certificate from the National Environment Management Authority claiming he was urgently needed in Eldoret that day, but Kenyan authorities confirmed the document was fake
The AIU’s Head, Brett Clothier, made it clear that the organisation’s investigative capability is built to expose exactly this kind of deception, regardless of an athlete’s profile or achievements.