By Amoto Ndiewo
Athletics Kenya has lauded the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) for helping them curb age cheating amongst junior athletes even though dealing with school dropouts gunning to be athletes of esteem due especially from semi-arid areas is still a problem.
“The challenge of semi-arid athletes is informed by the tricky situation wherein documentation has been delicate yet the athletes have much potential,” said Coach Robert Ngisirei.
Speaking in Eldoret during the second day of anti-doping seminars that started on 17th October, he said that currently schools exercise due diligence and that has reduced age-cheating significantly unlike in the past.
He was accompanied by Coach and Athletics Kenya representative Milcah Chemos Cheywa Chemos who said that the level of age cheating in the last four years has reduced due to NEMIS which allows for verification of any learner’s records efficiently.
The former 3,000m steeplechase world champion regretted that the same could not be said of those who dropped out of school.
She however warned that cheating often comes to light after athletes graduate into a senior category.
“Running in the junior cadre for too long due to age-cheating will affect your career once you transit to the senior category and the results start going down,” she cautioned.
In the same breath, the Coach noted that fighting age cheating has been a continuous process and is almost ending through concerted efforts.
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