Tribunal doubles doping ban against star Jeptoo

THE Court of Arbitration for Sport yesterday doubled a doping ban against Kenyan marathon star Rita Jeptoo to four years, signalling the end of her career. The world sports tribunal said there were aggravating circumstances including Jeptoo’s “deceptive and obstructive” behaviour, which warranted doubling the original ban against the 2014 Chicago and Boston Marathon winner. The marathon titles were taken away from Jeptoo, now 35, who was also ordered to pay 15,000 Swiss francs ($15,000) in legal costs to the world athletics body, the IAAF. The IAAF had appealed to the CAS to get the ban extended against Jeptoo who was revealed to have failed a test for the blood-doping EPO drug on October 24, 2014, 12 days after winning the Chicago Marathon.