Maina wa Njuguna
LEDE: A Kenyan who won the Boston Marathon was disqualified two years later for dopping. The second place winner – Buzunesh Deba, an Ethiopian automatically became the winner.
Today, eleven years and counting, she still awaits the trophy and $100,000 price money yet to be recovered from the Kenyan – Rita Jeptoo. However, a Philadelphia business man heard of this ordeal and wrote a check.
THE ORDEAL
Eleven years since the 2013 iconic Boston Marathon, the 2nd place winner, Ethiopian 🇪🇹 Buzunesh Deba, who actually was the real winner after Kenya’s 🇰🇪 Rita Jeptoo was later (2015) disqualified for dopping (use of drugs to enhance her performance), is still waiting for her trophy and prize money of USD 100,000 from the Boston Athletic Association (BAA).
Buzunesh Deba recalls training 130 miles per week for the marathon race. The second place finish stole the limelight at the peak of her career. Sadly, that placement took away Nike contracts and the other potential advertisement opportunities for champions of such major sports events.
The BAA has been working to recover the money from Ms. Jeptoo and released the statement below to the press.
The Boston Athletic Association stands for clean sport and fair competition. Following the ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the B.A.A. pursued reclaiming winnings from Rita Jeptoo. As the matter is still ongoing, we are unable to comment further at this time.
Boston Athletic Association (BAA)
Ms. Jeptoo was initially suspended for two years by Athletics Kenya after testing positive for the banned blood-booster EPO in 2014. The suspension was subsequently doubled to four years in 2016 after the global governing body of the sport (IAAF) successfully argued that the original punishment did not fully atone for the crime.
According to Reuters, the 2016 CAS said it was obvious Jeptoo had used EPO “as part of a scheme or plan.” CAS said the evidence included Jeptoo’s long relationship with her doctor, that her EPO use was “consistent with her competition calendar” and that her conduct was “deceptive and obstructive” throughout the proceedings.
MAKING IT RIGHT
This saga is ongoing and unresolved, but when a good Samaritan, a Philadelphia businessman, Mr. Doug Guyer heard about this unjust story, he reached out to The Boston Athletic Association (BAA) and told them if they didn’t resolve it within 24 hours, he would pay her.
Mr. Guyer the following day true to his word wrote a check of of $75,000 and paid a very grateful Mrs. Buzunesh Deba. He also told the Wallstreet Journal (WSJ) he would consider sending her the $25,000 bonus if the BAA does not.
TODAY
Following the monetary payout from Mr. Guyer, a grateful Mrs. Deba, an Ethiopian migrant in the US now plans to return back to elite running. She lives in New York with her husband and their two children.
Guyer said to the WSJ that delaying payment to the clean runner until the race recovers the money from the disqualified athlete is a “ridiculous policy.” “Just do the right thing, and then if you have to use lawyers to claw it back, knock yourself out,” Guyer said. “Just don’t put the onus on the second-place finisher.”
Doug Guyer
Mrs. Deba exclaimed “For us, it’s a miracle,” Deba said of Guyer’s unexpected beneficence. “It’s life-changing, big money. We were waiting so long.”
