Three-time World 1,500 meters champion Asbel Kiprop has vowed to continue fighting to clear his name from a doping scandal that has threatened to prematurely end his thriving athletics career.
The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games 1,500m champion is now serving a four-year ban after he tested positive for banned performance-enhancing substance Erythropoietin (EPO) in an out-of-competition test in November 2017.
Kiprop has since maintained his innocence and said someone was hell-bent on spoiling his career and has vowed to clear his name.
“Even if I finish the ban, I will not relent in my quest to find the truth. I will not allow the truth to die even if it will take me a decade or more. I will fight to clear my name. I also don’t want to go down on record as being the person who ruined Kenya’s rich athletics heritage,” Kiprop told Grace Msalame during NTV show Unscripted.
Kiprop also hinted at hiring a high-profile lawyer based in Europe to upscale his case against the Athletics Integrity Unit.
“I never planned to end my athletics career this way, and that is why I am so determined. I know it will be hard for me to return strongly to the level where I was, but I have a point to prove since I still have the energy to run.” He said.
After the ban, Kiprop revealed that he went into depression and his marriage broke down. He has since remarried and is getting back on his feet.
“All the people I had housed left me and my rivals openly ridiculed me saying they just realized I had been beating them in races through doping. There was a lack of trust and it can get worse when it comes to people who are closer. The only people who came through for me were my parents and Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai.
“My parents and the IG saved me from total collapse and I am grateful to them. I am also lucky to have another wife.”
The athlete added that he gets his inspiration from former South African President Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in jail before becoming president for just one term.
“Whenever you are hit by such storms, there is a need to persevere and to stand on your feet for the truth, no matter what,” he concluded.
