400m record holder Oketch, two rugby players fail doping tests

By  Ayumba Ayodi

Correspondent

NMG Sport

National 400 metres champion and record holder Mercy Oketch, 2022 World Indoor 800m silver medallist Noah Kibet and two rugby players, John Shiemi and Derick Ochieng, have been provisionally suspended for varying doping offences by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak).

The agency flagged down the 24-year-old Oketch, who is a private in the Kenya Defence Forces, for the presence of prohibited substances, Trimetazidine and Furosemide.

Oketch, ranked 23rd in the world in the women’s 400 metres, was served the notice of the failed doping test on October 26.

Oketch, the 2025 world mixed relay bronze medallist, represented Kenya at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland in August this year, reaching the semi-finals in 400m.

She anchored the 4x400m mixed relay team to fourth place at the Club Games.

She reclaimed her Kip Keino Classic 400m title last year, smashing Moraa’s record with a blistering 50.14.

Oketch, in fact, broke the 400m national indoor record four consecutive times this year.

She made history as the second Kenyan to compete in the 400m at the World Indoor Championships this year after Esther Kavaya in 1987 in Indianapolis, USA.

World Under-20

Kibet, the 2021 World Under-20 800m bronze medallist, was suspended on October 8 this year for the use of the prohibited substance glucocorticoids-triamcinolone acetonide.

Kibet, 22, claimed bronze at the world under-20 championships held in Nairobi, where Emmanuel Wanyonyi triumphed. Kibet went on to win the national 800m title and Doha Diamond League in 2022 before settling for silver in 800m at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

Mwamba skipper Shiemi and Ochieng of Kisumu have both tested positive for the prohibited Cannabinoids-Carboxy found in cannabis sativa (bhang).

Adak noted that the two players had more than the permitted limit.

In a previous interview, Adak legal officer, Bildad Rogoncho, indicated that if the cannabis sativa is consumed just before matches, it would earn the athlete a straight two-year ban.

“But if they took it out-of-competition and can prove that they didn’t use it for performance enhancement, then they will get three months,” said Rogoncho. “If the players plead guilty and accept to go for rehabilitation, then they will get a one-month ban.”

Seventeen Kenyan athletes from athletics and rugby have been banned by Adak in September and October.

Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has also caught several Kenyans cheating.

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