(REUTERS) – Athletics Kenya (AK) has defended the country’s athletes against doping allegations made by German national broadcaster ARD and said on Wednesday it would investigate the claims. Last weekend’s ‘Sportschau’ programme, under the headline ‘Kenyan runners under doping suspicion’, claimed widespread abuse of banned substances by some of Kenya’s elite runners.
Kenya’s athletics chiefs said AK would ask the police and immigration department to look into the accusations.
“We regret these reports as we have consistently known our athletes to be clean in this regard,” AK chairman Isaiah Kiplagat told reporters.
“A story to bring these allegations now with the Olympics only weeks away is disturbing. It has depicted Kenya as a country where athletes … dope to win. Most of our athletes are clean.”
Kiplagat added that Kenya complied with the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) code and the Regional Anti-Doping Agency (RADO) rules.
“Kenya is being defamed,” Kiplagat said.
“Our athletes are being alleged to have done things they have not done. We are good and we will always be good.”
Kenya’s Olympic Committee (NOCK) also reacted angrily to the accusations.
Twice Olympic gold medallist Kipchoge Keino, chairman of NOCK, said the German television report was an attempt to distract the athletes preparing for this year’s London Games.