Kajuga slams IAAF, denies using any illegal substance

Rwandan long distance runner Robert Kajuga has slammed the International Association of Athletics Association (IAAF) after it disregarded his appeal against a four-year ban from the sport.

Thursday, November 10, 2016
Kajuga had appealed to IAAF hoping to have the 4-year ban overturned. (File)

Rwandan long distance runner Robert Kajuga has slammed the International Association of Athletics Association (IAAF) after it disregarded his appeal against a four-year ban from the sport.

The 31-year-old long-distance track and road runner, who qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, was banned for four years because of his alleged refusal to submit to a doping control after competing in last year’s Kigali International Peace marathon.

However; the athlete, who will not return to the sport until March 2020, considers the sentence a blanket ban from the sport.

"I had nothing to do with doping; I admit it was a mistake to miss the test, which was out of ignorance. Even after appealing, they upheld the ban which I find very unfair. I was open and ready to take a test in my appeal to prove my innocence,” Kajuga told Times Sport on Tuesday.

Kajuga said his appeal was not given due consideration. "I feel it is unfair, IAAF does probably not understand just how this has left me shattered and ruined my career. It is unfair because, as I said previously, I have never used any illegal substance.”

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