Brigid Kosgei Whereabouts Update

Earlier this week a Kenyan article interviewing Brigid Kosgei and coach Eric Kimaiyo made waves throughout US running Twitter. In the article Kimaiyo is quoted;

“Brigid was tested six times before Chicago Marathon and before that, eight times ahead of London Marathon. She will never dodge a test. There are three times the anti-doping officials did not test her and they made a big deal out of it yet she was sick or had left the training venue when they arrived. Let them test her to the last minute. We are ready for the tests”

It doesn’t take a student of the sport to realize that this statement is problematic. However, you can’t take everything you read from Kenya’s English language reporting at face value because there is often subtext that isn’t conveyed second hand.

To follow up on this, I reached out to Kosgei’s agent, Federico Rosa, who assured me that my Kosgei’s WADA record is clean and that something may have been lost to subtlety. Rosa replies,

“I think something was lost in translation. Missing 3 test in 1 year is a clear violation of anti doping rules. Even if this is a very serious and private issue, and I should not disclose any information, just to stop any rumours around the matter, Brigid in the last 12 months record has 1 missed test, around December 2018 or early January 2019.”

The Athletics Kenya Whereabouts system is notoriously harder to coordinate with than the system US track fans are familiar with but after warnings from WADA the system is on the right track.

Here’s what’s expected out of all athletes in the testing pool,

“Athletes provide their whereabouts information on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Administration and Management System (ADAMS).

ADAMS is an online tool with a range of enhancements that makes it easier for athletes to enter, view and change their whereabouts information. This includes giving the athlete, or their nominated representative, the ability to interact with ADAMS on computers or smart phones

Whereabouts information that needs to be submitted regularly is filled out online, and are due the last day of each quarter in preparation for the next. As a result, there are four deadlines for whereabouts filings:

Quarter 1 – September 30

Quarter 2 – December 31

Quarter 3 – March 31

Quarter 4 – June 30

Additionally, athletes must submit whereabouts filing information whenever regularly scheduled plans change.”

For updates on this story follow me on Twitter,

Until then, we’ll talk soon.

-Justin