Recently, former half-marathon record-holder Kibiwott Kandie (hereafter Kandie) was handed a 7-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), the body established by World Athletics, after being found guilty of two charges: refusal to provide a doping-control sample and clandestinely tampering with the doping-control process.

This is a devastating blow for a professional athlete — especially since he is already 30 years old.

Earlier, Kandie had already received the first charge in March 2025: "refusal to provide a doping-control sample" — i.e., evading, refusing or failing to cooperate with sample collection — which carried a 4-year ban.

Then in May of this year he faced a second charge, even more outrageous: "clandestinely tampering with the doping-control process."

How does an athlete clandestinely tamper with the doping-control process? To explain that, we need to go back to the story behind the first charge in March 2025.

At the time Kandie claimed he needed to call a government office to make a payment, repeatedly delayed the test, and eventually slipped away without a word.

The AIU found this suspicious, contacted the relevant Kenyan authorities, and discovered he hadn't called the government at all — he had called a nurse he trusted. The "payment" story was entirely fabricated.

When AIU agents returned to confront Kandie, he said, "I just buy and sell furniture with that nurse fairly often."

If you're an AIU tester and you hear that, you're bound to have some serious questions:
Why invent a "paying the government" excuse?
Why was the person he contacted specifically a nurse?
"Frequently buying and selling furniture" sounds like too much of a coincidence — isn't that a stretch?

How would the AIU view this?

They suspected illicit drug-related transactions. The AIU promptly brought the second charge, finding that the alleged dealings had assisted him in tampering with samples — constituting athlete interference with the doping-control process, an offense that likewise carries a 4-year ban.

As a result, because of his deception and concealment, Kandie ended up facing an 8-year ban.

He received a one-year reduction for admitting the violations voluntarily, but the new ruling does little to make the situation more hopeful.

He was a three-time Valencia Half Marathon champion (2020, 2022 and 2023) and set the world record in 2020 — 57:32 — a time that is now the third-fastest in history. He also won the 10,000m at the 2023 Kenyan national championships.

Now, there's nothing left.