2008 Summer Olympics 800m gold medal winner Wilfred Bungei has lauded Cabinet Secretary for Sports Ababu Namwamba for his initiative to curb the doping crisis.

The doping crisis has hit the sporting industry, especially athletics, where the country was almost banned for widespread cases. But an intervention by the Cabinet Secretary of Sports, Namwamba, ensured that Kenya dodged the ban.

And the 2006 World Indoor Championships title winner in Moscow is happy about the intervention being taken to arrest the doping practice.

Bungei impressed

“Now, everyone, including the Cabinet Secretary, is finally on the same page as me: we must criminalize doping.

“When I was running, my coach did not allow me to even use supplements. He demanded that I never use supplements.

“It is very embarrassing to find so many Kenyan athletes involved in doping. For many years, we have been known as a country that runs smoothly. No use of performance-enhancing substances,” Bungei, 43, told a local radio station.

Namwamba’s initiative

Recently, Namwamba warned those syndicates that carry out criminal acts in the country.

“And for the criminal syndicate facilitating this vile practice, we are coming down on you like a brick wall. We will not allow a few criminal elements to soil Kenya’s proud sporting pedigree and heritage.

“To forestall the ban, we agreed on a comprehensive plan to confront the doping menace. I hosted a national multi-agency stakeholder forum last November, where the plan was developed.

“We committed US$5 million (KSh700 million) annually for the next five years to bankroll this plan, whose implementation we have handed over to a multi-agency team led by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya, working closely with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Athletics Integrity Unit. We are on track. This is a war we must win,” Namwamba explained.

Greed blamed

Now Bungei, a 1998 World Junior Championships in Athletics and 2001 World Championships in Athletics silver medallist, has condemned the practice and explained why athletes are tempted to cheat.

He has blamed greed and the desire to get quick money for Kenya’s current doping crisis.

“Most athletes want to make a name for themselves quickly and make money. When they see Wilfred Bungei driving a Prado, they want to get motivated. They want to run today and get money to buy a Prado,” he noted.

“That is not possible. Our athletes need to learn that there are steps someone needs to take. In 2009, I was the first athlete to say that doping should be criminalized, but people said I was being too harsh,” he continued.

The country’s athletics focus is now on the Budapest World Athletics Championship scheduled between August 19 and 27, with key players including Beatrice Chebet, Mary Moraa, Ferdinand Omanyala, and Julius Yego, among others, carrying the hopes of the nation.