By GPC Sports Reporter
Olympic javelin champion Julius Yego has urged Kenyan athletes to compete clean, warning that rising doping cases are damaging the country’s reputation as an athletics powerhouse.
In a social media post, Yego expressed concern that athletes, including elite competitors and juniors, were increasingly being associated with doping, putting Kenya’s standing in international athletics at risk.
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He said the country, once admired for producing world-class athletes, was losing the respect it had earned over decades through the achievements of legendary runners.
“Every win by any Kenyan athlete is ‘tagged’. You never know, maybe it’s another cheat winning,” Yego wrote, describing the situation as both embarrassing and sad.
The 2015 world javelin champion recalled how watching the 2004 Athens Olympics inspired his love for athletics, particularly Kenya’s memorable 1-2-3 finish in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase.
Ezekiel Kemboi, Brimin Kipruto and Paul Kipsiele Koech secured the podium sweep, an achievement Yego said challenged young Kenyans to dream of representing their country on the global stage.
He urged athletes to remember that they carry the country’s image whenever they compete, cautioning them against compromising the values that made Kenyan athletics respected worldwide.
“Train well and smart, compete clean and win clean,” he said, appealing to established athletes to set a positive example for younger generations.
Yego also reminded athletes that anti-doping rules were intended to protect clean competitors rather than punish them.
He said doping sanctions affected not only the athletes but also their families, friends and supporters, who often invested their trust and resources in their careers.
Having witnessed colleagues and close friends receive doping bans, Yego said such cases had been difficult to accept, particularly when the athletes had previously been admired and supported.
He nevertheless expressed optimism that Kenya could rebuild its reputation through discipline and respect for the rules governing the sport.
“We can do what the legends did: stay true to the rules and regulations of the sport. Run clean, win clean,” he said.
Kenya has produced some of the world’s most celebrated distance runners, including Kipchoge Keino, whose achievements helped establish the country’s reputation as a global athletics powerhouse.
