Cherono receives seven-year ban for doping violation

Kenyan marathon runner Lawrence Cherono has been slapped with a seven-year ban after violating anti-doping regulations, SSP reported.

Cherono, aged 35, received a four-year suspension for testing positive for a banned substance, with an additional four years for tampering and attempting to mislead the investigation. However, due to an early admission of guilt and accepting the sanction, his ban was reduced by one year.

The athlete had been provisionally suspended in July 2022 following a positive test result for the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ). Consequently, the ban will commence retroactively from the time of his initial suspension, indicating that Cherono is ineligible to compete until 2029.

Initially, Cherono attributed the positive test to an injection for stomach pain prescribed by a doctor. However, his stance shifted later, as he claimed it was a result of a mix-up with his wife's medication.

Brett Clothier, the Head of the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), stated that the ban intends to send a strong message to any potential rule violators. He commended the AIU's relentless efforts in investigating doping cases and analyzing the explanations provided for positive tests. Additionally, Clothier emphasized the AIU's unwavering commitment to fulfilling its mandate without neglecting any leads.

This ban comes in the wake of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's four-year suspension earlier this year for testing positive for TMZ before the 2022 Winter Olympics. Moreover, in 2021, 23 Chinese swimmers who had unknowingly ingested the substance through contamination were cleared to participate in the Tokyo Games by the China Anti-Doping Agency. However, they tested positive for TMZ.