Athletics fans in Eldoret town have welcomed the move by the IAAF Disciplinary Tribunal to ban Olympic women marathon champion Jemimah Jelagat Sumgong from participating in any competition for eight years.

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“We are the home of champions and it is a big shame for some of our celebrated heroes being caught using banned substances, we must produce legible quality to continue enjoying our hard earned fame in athletics” said Linus Kimaru, an athletics fan in Eldoret town.

Sumgong made history at the 2016 Olympic games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil after becoming the first woman to win gold in the Olympics’ marathon.

Mr. Edward Wafula, an athletics coach in Eldoret saluted the IAAF for doing excellent investigations about doping cases. 

"We welcome the ban on Sumgong and believe it will send a stern warning to any athlete who is thinking of doping, as an athletics nation, we want to totally get rid of doping and win titles genuinely,” he added.

He further pleaded with athletes to practice harder and win titles genuinely.

Last week’s ban on Sumgong came amid her suspension from defending her London Marathon title on April 3, 2017 when her A-Sample tested positive for the banned blood booster following an out of competition test conducted on February 28, 2017.

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