Report: Kenyan coach banned after pretending to be athlete, takes urine test

REUTERS-kenyan athletics coach john anzrah sent home for posing as athlete and giving urine sample – kenyan olympic chief kip keino #Rio2016

— Ossian Shine (@ossianshine) August 11, 2016

A Kenyan athletics coach has been put on a plane back to his home country after attempting to impersonate an athlete at the Rio Olympics.

Reuters is reporting that John Anzrah, a sprints coach, tried to pose as an athlete, and then was subjected to and took a urine test on the athlete’s behalf.

Kenyan site www.capitalfm.co.ke is reporting that Anzrah was using an athlete’s accreditation to access the athlete’s village because he did not have the proper pass to enter the area. The 61-year-old coach was then approached by doping controls staff sent to find a middle-distance runner for an out-of-competition test. They demanded that Anzrah take the test, although he did apparently attempt to explain that he was not the athlete.

“We have sent Anzrah back home, “Kip Keino, chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya told Reuters on Thursday. “He presented himself as an athlete, gave the urine sample and even signed the documents. We cannot tolerate such behaviour.”

It is still not clear which athlete he was attempting to impersonate, and if that athlete has since been tested. 400m hurdler Nicolas Bett did express frustration on Facebook about the sprints coaches for Kenya not being brought to the Games, and it is unclear if Athletics Kenya had brought Anzrah along as a part of their official team.

“It is a stupid incident, stupid thing really for a coach of his experience to be found in possession of an athlete’s accreditation simply because possibly he wanted to access an area that he may not have had access to because of his credentials as a team official. Who does that any way?” Kenyan chef de mission, Stephen Soi told Sports News Arena.

Last week, Kenyan track and field manager Michael Rotich was also sent home from Rio after it was revealed that he had been asking for bribes in exchange for providing information as to when doping officials would be visiting athletes.

A Dutch website reported in July that Anzrah was a coach with the first-ever Olympic refugee team.

Here’s a recent photo of Anzrah: