Kenyan athletics is in another doping crisis, and the latest case has reopened the question of how much responsibility agents and coaches should bear when an athlete tests positive. More than 140 Kenyan athletes have been banned for doping in a decade, according to VnExpress. The newest name is Peres Jepchirchir, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and 2025 world marathon champion, who was provisionally suspended on 23 October 2026 after testing positive for erythropoietin (EPO), a substance that boosts red blood cell production and the blood's capacity to carry oxygen.
The positive sample was an out-of-competition test taken on 17 July 2026 at her home in Kapsabet, shortly before she won the Sydney Marathon on 31 August 2026.
Gianni Demadonna, her agent for 13 years, rejects the idea that agents are automatically to blame. He said he had trusted Jepchirchir, that she had never had problems or missed a test, and asked how anyone could be accused without evidence when he lives in Italy and she lives in Kenya. Demadonna, 72, finished second in the 1987 New York City Marathon. Two years before the case broke, he cut his agency back to 10 of more than 100 athletes, keeping Jepchirchir.
He also described the 17 July sample collection: two doping control officers waited more than two hours outside her gate because she would not let them in, and he phoned her to tell her to open the door. Had he been complicit, he argued, he would have told her not to. Under anti-doping rules, three whereabouts failures or missed tests within 12 months can amount to a violation.
The precedents
Federico Rosa, who runs the agency Rosa Associati, has also faced suspicion. He said agents rely entirely on coaches to judge sudden jumps in performance, because coaches supervise training directly, and admitted that no system is foolproof, since athletes can leave a training camp and take drugs without anyone knowing.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2004 | Cathal Lombard, former Irish 10,000m record holder, accepts a two-year ban for EPO |
| 2014 | Rita Jeptoo wins the Boston Marathon in a course record, later annulled for doping |
| 2015 | Athletics Kenya suspends Rosa Associati and Volare Sports pending investigation; both later cleared |
| 2016 | Kenyan police arrest Rosa and Italian coaches Claudio Berardelli and Renato Canova; all released for lack of evidence |
| 2024 | Ruth Chepngetich, a Rosa client, sets the women's marathon world record in Chicago; later suspended for doping |
| 23/10/2026 | Peres Jepchirchir provisionally suspended for EPO |
Jeptoo, a three-time Boston and two-time Chicago champion, received a four-year ban and later said she had hidden her doping from both Berardelli and Rosa. Lombard publicly apologised to his long-time coach. After the Jeptoo case, Rosa introduced regular blood testing and dropped some athletes, and he has since worked with Nike and the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) on a programme in which Jacob Kiplimo and Brigid Kosgei volunteer for 25 unannounced tests a year.
What comes next
Tash Carpenter, the AIU's head of communications, confirmed that the unit can investigate coaches and agents and will do so if necessary, but said it cannot comment on ongoing investigations. Jepchirchir's suspension is provisional, and VnExpress did not say when her case will be heard.
As VnExpress concluded, pressure is growing to hold the whole support team around Kenyan athletes accountable, but widening sanctions will require regulators to produce concrete evidence rather than punishing people for professional ties alone.