Peter Gacheru

TO MY FELLOW ATHLETES : THERE WERE CHAMPIONS BEFORE US . Over the recent past years we have had a serious spike in cases of doping among our fellow athletes be it seniors / elite and juniors . This is has cause serious injury to the sport and the image of our great country Kenya We all had ambitions and dreams when young and very green on what to do reach where our role models had reached, myself I started loving athletics deeply in 2004 when I watched the Athens Olympics, I am sure we all remember the 1-2-3 sweep in the steeple chase lead my Babayao Ezekiel Kemboi, Brimin Kipruto and Paul kipsiele Koech, it was the sweetest thing to watch and feel. I am sure we loved it and you were challenged to think and dream that in future you wanted to raise the Kenyan flag high in a major event, I too I was challenged Our country was respected, applauded and our athletes were admired all over the globe But things have changed over the last few years, our image is tainted and the respect we had is diminishing each day over unending and ever rising cases of doping but our athletes, infact on the socials we are being labelled as ‘cheats’😭 Every win by any Kenyan athlete is ‘tagged’ you never know maybe it’s another cheat wining 😭 It is sad 😢 it’s embarrassing . Our champions who came before us were cheered, they didn’t cheat, the founders kip keino is still remembered and respected world all over together with his group and the champions who came later after him and many more until recently, but why? I want to remind you also that before you get to the start line, runway or that ring, remember one thing WE ARE KENYANS, we represent a country that its image in athletics before us was a country respected, loved, ‘feared ‘ in good faith before of its athletes prowess, please let us not forget this and we MUST take our image back to where it was, train well and smart, compete clean and win clean, we have very young ones who are looking after us as role models, let us not destroy them, let us show them the right way: THE CLEAN SPORT, Rules and regulations that govern this sport were not brought to punish any athlete but to protect the clean athletes Keep in mind that after us exit many more champions are coming up, Do you want them to be disrespected and called cheats ? On my side NO! Remember the society were we come from, our families, friends and anybody else you connect because of your talent, they put much respect, believe and trust in us Let’s be considerate to them also, they feel let down and cheated to supporting us When you get banned they are hurt, they carry that burden too,they will look back and say this guy we respected and supported was just a fake person cheated his or her life up, it is painful I have seen close friends and colleagues banned, it is equally very tough to accept but that is life I have come to know about this sport, people who we looked up to and supported in their prime times and tough times just only to get Sanctioned and banned, you get shocked, lose truest and everything good you can think of. It has become tough lately , but I think we can redeem our image, we can do what the legends did:STAY TRUE TO THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE SPORT :RUN CLEAN WIN CLEAN Athletics Integrity Unit@Anti-Doping Agency of KENYA OfficialAthleticsKenya AKMinistry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and SportsNOCK- Olympics KenyaAyumba Peter NjorogeAyodiMuigai KiguruCelestine Karoney Citizen TV KenyaNation