Kenyan Olympic coach is sent home from Rio after 'posing as an athlete to give a urine sample in doping test'

Sprint coach John Anzrah

A Kenyan athletics coach who allegedly posed as an athlete and gave a urine sample in a doping test has been sent home from the Rio Olympics.  Sprint coach John Anzrah was sent home after being caught out following a drugs test at an Olympic venue.  It was not clear which athlete Mr Anzrah was pretending to be. He was arrested and is in detention in the Kenyan capital Nairobi where he will be questioned by a magistrate.  He is the second Kenyan official to be sent home from the Games over drugs allegations. Anzrah had also been the sprint coach for Africans within the specially formed refugee team of athletes appearing under the Olympic flag for the first time ever.
Kip Keino, a Kenyan running great and chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK), said: 'He presented himself as an athlete, gave the urine sample and even signed the documents.
'We cannot tolerate such behaviour.
'We don't even know how he came here because we (NOCK) did not facilitate his travel here,' he added in a telephone interview from Rio after a Kenyan media outlet reported Mr Anzrah had been sent home.
One senior source at Kenya's running federation, Athletics Kenya (AK), said he had spoken to the concerned athlete who claims Anzrah used his accreditation purely to obtain free meals from athletes' village.
'When the anti doping officials met him, they assumed he was the athlete and that he was lined up for testing,' said the Athletics Kenya source.
'The coach, for fear of being exposed or discovered, did not explain to the anti-doping guy that he is actually not the athlete.
'Hence he played along and went for the test,' added the AK source. Mr Anzrah was not immediately available for comment.
Anzrah, a former African sprint champion, is said to have worn the accreditation badge of men’s 800m runner Ferguson Rotich, who was fourth in the Beijing World Championships last year. The shock suspension will also reopen questions about Kenya’s involvement in doping programmes after allegations over their failure to carry out regular and forensic testing of it athletes.
Kenyan official Stephen Arap Soi said in Rio: ‘The problem with John Anzrah is he took possession of an identity card (accreditation) of an athlete who was in the list of WADA for out of competition dope testing and went to the dining hall.
‘He was picked and taken to the doping control station purportedly as Ferguson Rotich and subjected to produce the sample and he signed.
‘The crime he has committed against Team Kenya and that is why we are sending him back home is because he could have impersonated himself as an athlete.

Source: DailyMail