Kenya's former Olympic and world 1,500 metres champion Asbel Kiprop said he was traumatised by the news that he failed a doping test for the banned blood-booster EPO and he has vowed to prove his innocence.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) confirmed on Friday that Kiprop has tested positive following an out-of-competition test in November last year.
"My family and I are devastated. I am traumatised," Kiprop, a policeman in Kenya, said on Saturday.
"The line of questioning I was subjected to earlier strongly suggested somebody had an axe to grind."
Kiprop, 28, said in a long statement on Thursday that his urine sample might have been tampered with by testers who tipped him off about their visit and took a payment from him.
The AIU said it had investigated and was satisfied there was no interference with Kiprop's sample.
The AIU said Kiprop had been given advance notice, which contravenes the World Anti-Doping Agency's guidelines stating that out-of-competition tests should be conducted without prior notice to athletes.
"I have worked so hard to build a career since 2003 when I was 13 years old. The achievements I made are crumbling before my own eyes, for a crime that I have not committed," Kiprop said.
"In the court of public opinion, as an advocate of clean sports, I know I am very innocent. I am accused of something that I have never committed.
"I can't disgrace (my family) by doping ... I was given prior warning of testing. Why would I accept to be tested if I knew I had EPO in my system?," he added.
Kiprop was world champion in 2011, 2013 and 2015 and promoted to gold at the 2008 Olympics after Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi tested positive for doping.
His case is now with an IAAF disciplinary tribunal and he could be banned for four years if found guilty of doping.
