Rudisha scolds authorities for WADA deadline miss

The world wants to see David Lekuta Rudisha at the Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil this summer.

David Lekuta Rudisha is also training hard to give the planet a resounding encore for all ages in South America after he served the unbelievable 1:40.98 record breaking victory at the London Olympics in 2012.

However, the poster boy of Kenya’s track and field, the crowd puller, showstopper and main event is as apprehensive as anyone of a possible Rio 2016 no-show because his beloved country is set to miss Tuesday’s World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) extended deadline for compliance.

Throughout a career that announced itself on the global stage at the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing when he was nicknamed the ‘Pride of Africa’ for winning gold in 1:47.40, Rudisha is not renowned for being outspoken on matters outside the event he occupies its throne as the undisputed king.

On Friday, the Daegu 2011 and Beijing 2015 world champion slammed the Government and its Ministry of Sports, Culture and Arts for dithering in enacting anti-doping legislation in good time to ward off the threat of an international ban.

He further chided authorities for sidelining athletes in the process of making the law that seeks to stem the vice that has seen over 40 Kenyan runners banned for doping violations according to the published world body IAAF list.

“We athletes cannot do more than that. What we are only worried about is the effort, determination and focus we have for competition and the Olympics this year, we are training hard and it is a pity if all this will go down the drain if Kenya is banned from the sport.

“If the Government and the ministry let us down, it will be a pity because they were given a long time; this issue was mentioned last year and we haven’t seen good effort and that is why we have been complaining the Ministry had not been doing enough,” the 2008 and 2012 African champion told Citizen Digital from Eldoret.

“Athletes are not involved in this matter; we are not fully informed of what is going on, the ministry is doing its own things. Another challenge we have, in Kenya we don’t have specific Athletes’ Representatives who represent runners in such interests.

“We need somebody who will be sitting and sharing on behalf of the athletes. We are not aware of what they are doing, we don’t know which point they have reached and we really don’t know what point they have reached,” he called.

“We were given enough time to do all these things. I don’t understand why these people are not treating the matter with a lot of seriousness; it’s really unfortunate because the ball was thrown to them- the Government and the Ministry.

“If they have passion for what sportsmen and sportswomen are doing for this country, they should show concern and treat the matter in the best way for the interests of our athletics,” Rudisha who first broke the 800m record at the Berlin ISTAF meeting where he ran 1:41.09 on August 22 lamented.

-Commonwealth silver-

Rudisha is hopeful the worst will not befall his country despite the fact that Kenya is among five countries that were placed under ‘critical care’ by IAAF mid last month for not abiding with the WADA rules.

Neighbours and bitter rivals, Ethiopia, Morocco, Belarus and Ukraine are the others on the red-list with the 2014 Commonwealth silver medallist putting up a case for his nation.

“For the name of the country and for the sake of our sports, nobody wishes to see Kenya banned from competing at international championships. It’s a shame. We had time on our side and it now depends on what WADA will decide,” he underscored.

WADA is expected to give the way forward for the country on Tuesday after Parliament adjourned for a month on Thursday, erasing any chance of having the proposed Anti-Doping Bill of 2016 deliberated and passed into law on the floor of the National Assembly.

This came against the background of repeated assurances by Mosca Cabinet Secretary