A “medically-savvy operation” is helping Kenyan athletes cover up doping offenses.

That’s the word from the Athletics Integrity Unit (the AIU ) and the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya who said they found similar forged documents and references to fictitious doctors in two recent cases concerning Betty Wilson Lempus and Eglay Nafuna Nal-yanya.

Lempus was handed a five-year ban in January for using a prohibited substance and tampering with doping controls by using forged documents while Nal-yanya, was banned for eight years for breaching anti-doping rules.

Both athletes told the AIU they received intramuscular injections while being treated at the same Kenyan hospital and produced falsified medical documents to support their respective claims.

According to the AIU and Kenyan anti-doping agency  striking similarities” were found in the explanation and evidence presented…….adding in both instances it was discovered the documents were false, the doctors listed were fictitious and neither athlete had received the respective injection though both women had attended the hospital on the respective days in question.

Meanwhile, a disciplinary tribunal in its summation  said the pattern of behavior was “remarkably similar” in both cases and held the view that Nalyanya had neither the sophistication nor medical knowledge to draft the letter from the doctor.

Athletics Kenya said last week that its government has pledged $5 million dollars annually for the next five years to fight doping in athletics.