Kenyan sprinter Mark Otieno Odhiambo has finally broken his silence on his Tokyo Olympic ban and failing a drugs test.
Speaking to Carol Radull on her YouTube channel, Otieno blamed his anti-doping violation positive test result on a contaminated nutritional supplement.
The 28-year-old revealed that many athletes are using the same supplement that landed him in a problem.
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"We had to take a sample of the supplement I was using to a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited lab hence confirming my suspicions, one of the nutritional supplements that I had been using was contaminated with an undisclosed banned substance," Otieno revealed.
Otieno is serving a three-year ban and has appealed for lesser punishment from Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) compared to the standard four-year ban.
He also noted that after the ban, he had quite a rough time with him taking unpaid leave from his place of work to concentrate on the fight to clear his name.
"In my training I worked so hard as I travelled globally in search of qualification time prior to the National Trials and eventually got it.
“In the seven years that I have been competing I have never violated the Anti-doping rules, the incident really depressed me and my family,” he noted.
Otieno has had a chance to represent Kenya at the 2017 World Championships, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and World Relays Championships.
The AIU states that athletes are responsible for knowing what substances and methods are considered banned on the prohibited list.
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