Kenya Olympics boss suspended amid doping allegations

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – Days after Kenya’s Olympics team manager had to leave the 2016 Rio summer games under a cloud of doping and bribery allegations, athletics’ world governing body Friday provisionally suspended the Kenyan athletics team boss.

In a statement, Michael Beloff, chairman of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), said that Michael Rotich will be suspended for 180 days, “pending investigation of serious matters which have come to the attention of the IAAF Ethics Board.”

“The chairman of the Ethics Board has imposed this order for provisional suspension having carefully considered the information available to the board,” a notice from world athletics’ governing body said.

Kenya has started an investigation into the allegations that Rotich was involved in bribery and doping. The High Court of Kenya granted Rotich $2,000 bail on Friday pending investigation of the allegations.

The board stressed that “the imposition of an Order for Provisional Suspension in this case in no way prejudges the outcome of the investigation which will now be carried out by the Board’s appointed investigator, Mr. Sharad Rao.”

The board said Rao is a former director of public prosecutions in Kenya and current chair of the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board.