Kenyan athlete Chepkemei to serve out full ban

NAIROBI (AFP) - Kenya will not appeal against a one-year ban handed to former three-times World half-marathon Susan Chepkemei, athletics officials said on Thursday.

Athletics Kenya secretary David Okeyo said the 32-year-old athlete, who tested positive for salbutamol last September, was lucky to have escaped with a lenient sentence because of her acceptance that she had taken a medication containing the banned drug to treat pneumonia.

"Chepkemei was very open and that is why we gave her a one-year suspension," said Okeyo. "Some athletes are punished for four years or even for life."

Okeyo said Chepkemei, who is expecting her first child, would have to go through another testing after she finishes her suspension term.

He added the long distance runner is also expected to forfeit all her earnings from the races she took part since September.

Chepkemei took part in the second World Road Running championships in Udine, Italy last October which she failed to finish.

She becomes the third Kenyan athlete to test positive for banned drugs in the last two years.