Kenya given final deadline to meet WADA standards on doping control
By Ben Reynolds
Last Updated: 07/04/16 3:57pm
Kenya could face a ban from international athletics if it does not meet a final deadline of May 2 to bring its programme in line with the World Anti-Doping Agency's code.
WADA's compliance review committee met on Tuesday and decided Kenya's anti-doping programme was still not up to standard - the second deadline the country has missed this year.
In a statement released on Thursday, WADA confirmed that unless Kenya passes doping legislation and formally adopts regulations for its new national anti-doping body by next month, the committee will ask WADA's board to declare it non-compliant.
Although being non-compliant with WADA's rules doesn't immediately affect athletes, it could prompt the IAAF to consider further sanctions, including a possible international ban. Kenya's athletes won 11 medals at London 2012.
The WADA statement read: "In February, we confirmed that the Kenyan Government had missed an 11 February deadline to establish the appropriate legal framework necessary for the new NADO in Kenya, the ADAK, to implement a program in line with the Code's requirements.
"As a result of failing to meet the requirements within the deadline, the matter was referred to WADA's independent Compliance Review Committee for their review.
"The Committee concluded that the current situation is not in compliance with the 2015 Code, since the bill, policy and ADAK rules have not yet been formally adopted.
"Unless the bill, policy and ADAK rules are formally adopted by 2 May 2016, the Compliance Review Committee's recommendation to the WADA Foundation Board will be to declare the ADAK non-compliant."
Kenya was one of five countries - along with Morocco, Ethiopia, Belarus and Ukraine - placed in "critical care" by the IAAF in March due to various degrees of non-compliance.
Russia will find out next month if it can send an athletics team to Rio after being suspended for widespread doping irregularities in November.
