Doping body trails Inzzi: Surprise new test

Apr 27, 2006

A team from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) stormed Kampala at the weekend to test World and Commonwealth Games steeplechase champion Dorcus Inzikuru.


By Norman Katende
A team from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) stormed Kampala on Saturday to test World and Commonwealth Games steeplechase champion Dorcus Inzikuru.

The team, that tracks the world’s top athletes for random blood and urine tests to cleanse sports of drug cheats, raced to Kampala after bouncing at Inzzi’s training camp in Iten, Kenya.

Inzikuru travelled to Kampala to take part in the Stanbic Bank organised Charity Run on Sunday.

Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) secretary Beatrice Ayikoru confirmed the WADA team visited Kampala.

“WADA takes samples even outside competitions. They do not announce when and where they will test and all we give them are the athletes’ programmes and training venues,” Ayikoru said yesterday.

“They follow up athletes wherever they are in the world.”

Ayikoru said WADA does not even contact the national federations before they enter a country. “Most times, we do not even know the tests are carried out. We just know after getting the results,” she said.

Uganda’s two gold medalists, Inzikuru and Kiprop had the mandatory after-race tests in Melbourne.

Inzikuru was only able to give sample’s nearly three hours after the race, which according to WADA official Dr.James Sekajugo, usually happens with long distance runners. “Long distance athletes are virtually dehydrated at the end of the race and even if they drink lots of fluid after that, the body uses it up very fast, so it takes a long time to get urine from them,” he said.

CLICK for link to seeInzikuru's action in Melbourne

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