Chepkemei gets one-year drugs ban

Chepkemei: Former Commonwealth 10,000m silver medallist

Kenya's Susan Chepkemei, runner-up to Paula Radcliffe at the 2004 New York marathon, has been handed a one-year ban after failing a drugs test.

The 32-year-old former Commonwealth 10,000m silver medallist tested positive for salbutamol in September.

Yet she avoided the normal two-year ban after Athletics Kenya accepted her plea of mitigating circumstances.

Chepkemei had been administered the banned substance when she was treated for pneumonia at a Nairobi hospital.

Salbutamol is given to aid a patient's breathing.

Chepkemei's representative, Jos Hermens, said: "The bombshell was later dropped on Susan that she had failed the test.

"She told the testers what she had taken following her hospital treatment and supposed the doctor - knowing she was an international athlete - had not prescribed anything which contravened doping regulations.

"She wasn't in full-time training at the time both because of the illness and the fact she was pregnant."