Jepchirchir's agent says testers waited two hours at her door
The new detail in the EPO case is how the sample got collected in the first place.
The new piece of the Peres Jepchirchir EPO case is the collection itself. In a video laying out the case, LetsRun says that according to her agent, testers arrived at her house and were denied entry for two hours before she agreed to open the door. The agent's account is that the testers did not initially identify themselves as doping controllers, which is why Jepchirchir refused to let them in.
What changed her mind, per that account, was a warning. The agent recounts the testers saying that if she would not open the door they would have to take action and she would be banned for two years. She then allowed the test to proceed. LetsRun says the agent expressed shock at the positive result but also noted the suspicious timing and the initial refusal to cooperate.
Why the defense cuts both ways
The story is meant to explain the delay, and it does. It also confirms the delay. A two hour wait at the door is the part of the sequence that is now on the record from her own representative, and it sits next to an EPO finding that LetsRun says has resulted in a ban. Our earlier page covered the provisional suspension and the Sydney win that preceded it.
The money argument
The other thread running through the reaction is what a career like this is worth. McKirdy Trained, writing about her agency Demadonna, argues the damage goes well past prize money, naming appearance fees, contract bonuses and rollover bonuses that upgrade a contract in the years after a big win. He estimates she was earning around $1,500,000 a year and that the agency was taking over $225,000 a year on her alone. Those are his estimates, not figures from any governing body.
He also wants the file reopened. McKirdy Trained says he hopes officials go back to her Athlete Biological Passport, the long term blood profile used to flag doping over time, and overturn the bulk of her race results so other athletes move up. His own athlete Julia finished third at the Marathon World Championship, which he says he will consider a silver in thought only, because it is not official unless the results are overturned.
That is the live question now. Nothing in either source says any past result has been changed.
If Perez will not open the door, we will have to take action. She will be banned for two years,
The likelihood Peres cheated once is absolutely zero.
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