IAAF hands Chemos the 2009 Worlds steeple gold medal

Kenya’s Milcah Chemos Cheywa is officially the Berlin 2009 World Championship women 3000m steeplechase winner after the world governing body IAAF president Lord Sebastian Coe handed over her gold medal to Athletics Kenya (AK) boss Lt. Gen (Rtd) Jackson Tuwei.

Coe handed over the medals from reconstituted results to delegates from various nations during the  IAAF Special Congress dinner in Monaco with Chemos now a two-time world champion following her triumph in the 2013 edition of the biennial track and field showpiece ironically in Moscow, Russia.

Following the development, Berlin 2009 becomes the best IAAF World Championships for Kenya in Europe with the country’s medal tally reading five gold, five silver and a bronze pending further review and possible adjustments on the results.

Chemos-who was appointed as an Athletes’ Representative by AK last month- ran a then lifetime best of 9:08.57 for what was at first good enough for silver before Russian Yuliya Zaripova tested positive for banned substances and had her results annulled and her medal stripped.

“The hard work has just started and we need to come together and ensure that the sport is one that we can all be proud off,” Coe told the delegates at the dinner on a day his reforms received overwhelming approval during the voting by the Special Session of the Congress earlier in the day.

Tuwei who received the medal on behalf of the Kenya Police athlete said the decision to award Chemos the gold medal vindicated a country that will remains under IAAF scrutiny for doping next year.

“We are very excited about because when we received information initially concerning the banning of the Russian athletes, we looked at our list and found that Chemos qualified for a gold medal. We wrote to the IAAF about what had happened and they wrote back confirming they will award her the medal,” the AK boss said moments after Coe handed him the top medal to pass it on to Chemos.

He disclosed Kenya was still pursuing more medals robbed of the country’s athletes by drug cheats in a review spanning from the 2009 Worlds in Berlin to the 2013 edition in Moscow in one of the biggest reconstitution of results in the history of the sport following progress in biological passport testing.

“She is not the only one, there are a few others we have written and we are waiting and as soon as we get that, we shall inform everybody but otherwise we are very glad and want to congratulate Chemos for that achievement in the event. Already she had done very well but getting a gold medal is an achievement above all,” Tuwei stressed.

He added it was a huge lift ahead of next year’s in London with Kenyan athletes traditionally not performing as well as they do in Asia or Americas due to the wet and cold weather.

“That goes to show as we prepare for London, we need to do slightly more and that gives us a challenge so that we can beat what we did in the past. We want to urge our athletes to continue performing well and it goes to show that we must plan better,” the former Kenya Army chief underscored.

Tuwei said the decision also vindicated Kenyan athletes who have been under increased scrutiny following the international doping scandal that has seen samples stored in the biological passport programme from past championships re-tested to detect previously undetectable drugs.

“Last time we saw Asbel Kiprop being awarded a medal won by a cheating athlete earlier. This goes to show our athletes are clean and running clean and it gives us lots of confidence in as much as we have been doubted on claims of doping, they are very few. They have been banned and those who are remaining are clean athletes, most of our athletes are clean,” Tuwei emphasised.

“We want to maintain clean running so that when our athletes win, there is no doubt,” he said.

Chemos has always maintained the feeling she was robbed of her rightful medal by the Russian who came to Berlin having not featured on the international circuit to blow away the competition for the gold.

“One day, the gold will come to me,” she said to this reporter at the time and seven years later, her poignant statement came to pass.