Recently, news of doping rocked the running world. Ruth Chepngetich, who holds the world record for women’s marathon, was suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after testing positive for a banned substance.

Chepngetich clocked a world record-breaking time of two hours and nine minutes at the Chicago Marathon last October. She surpassed the world record of Ethiopian Tigst Assefa set in the 2023 Berlin Marathon by nearly two minutes.

After her win in Chicago, quite a few running enthusiasts were skeptical, if not downright suspicious. Amby Barefoot, a revered figure in the running world, in fact, declared that her time “is not possible.” But given that there was no evidence then, she was handed the world record.

It appears, however, that last 14 March, a sample collected from Chepngetich tested positive for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ). HCTZ itself is not a performance-enhancing drug, but as a diuretic, it is meant to mask or hide whatever PED has been taken by the athlete. Thus, HCTZ is prohibited at all times under the World Anti-Doping Agency Code.

Now, her world record is under question, and it remains to be seen whether she will be stripped of the title.

In recent years, there has been a slew of East African runners found to be doping.

Sarah Chepchirchir, a former Tokyo Marathon winner, was slapped with an eight-year ban in early 2024 after her urine was found to have testosterone metabolites of exogenous origin, which means that the testosterone was introduced externally.

To be fair, there are runners from other countries who were found to be doping, but Kenyan runners top the list.

According to AIU records, there are currently 119 Kenyan athletes on the ineligible list of AIU for doping and 14 Ethiopian athletes.

“For many, it’s win or go back to the village with nothing,” explained a Kenyan Athletics official, indicating that many athletes resort to doping out of desperation.

It is well known that running is a pathway out of poverty in Kenya or Ethiopia. For instance, a single race win, which has a prize money of around $50,000 in a European road race, can transform an impoverished family’s life. This creates an intense incentive to win at all costs. A lot of the doping practices are abetted by “agents” who earn massively off the winnings of hapless runners.

The situation is unfortunate because there are a lot of genuinely talented runners in Kenya. Whether it’s a combination of genetics and being born in a high-altitude place, Kenyans are recognized as the best distance runners in the world.

Perhaps the most renowned Kenyan distance runner is Eliud Kipchoge, the first human to run a two-hour marathon. He is famously against all forms of doping and has consistently espoused clean living.

The fact that it took nine months after she ran a world record pace for Chepngetich to be found out indicates that current testing protocols are still unable to catch infractions. As many observers say, she couldn’t have broken a world record and only thereafter began doping.