News 2005
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Décember 2005
  • Mauritius' long jumper Arnaud Casquette tested positive for cannabis following his third place in the long jump at the Francophone Games (he also got a bronze medal with the 4x100m team). He denied smoking and claimed the presence of the substance in his body was caused by the tea he drank in the Games Village. His explanations didn't convince the Mauritius federation that suspended him for six months.

  • Botswana 400m record holder Amantle Montsho lost all her goods when her house was devastated by fire sometime in 2005.

  • The second best javelin thrower in Mauritius David Lam Vo Hee was injured in a road accident (the extent of his injuries are not known).

  • Following a case of athlete mistreatment by a manager and difficulties to deal with an important number of managers, Kenya Athletics decided to retain only 12 registered agents for the next season. They are: Brendan Reilly, Dorothee Paulmann, Federico Rosa, Gianni Demadonna, Gwenael Vigot, James Templeton, Lisa Buster, Sylvia Abmayr, Alec Wragg, Peter Healey, Ricky Simms et Volker Wagner.
    Among the 19 managers sacked: Jos Hermens, Jean Conrath, Tom Ratcliffe, Hussein Makke, Peter Hier, Ian Ladbrooke, Daniella Poli, Enrico Dionisi, Khellil Benhalima, Eugene Coppinger, Derek Froude, Denis Prudhome, David Kapellio, Claudio Bellini, Andre Thomas, Chris Gowar, Vincente Valera, Andrew Sang.

November 2005
  • Botswana high jumpers ranks among the best in the continent but have been left without a coach for a year since the departure of the Cuban expert who was monitoring their training. Better times are nonetheless in sight for Kabelo Mmono who has been offered a scholarship for Cardiff University by his employer (Botswana National Sports Council) and for African junior champion Kabelo Kgosiemang who will benefit from an IAAF-grant to train in Cologne (Germany).

  • Seychelles' quartermiler Ronny Marie broke his shinbone during a training camp for the Francophone Games that is being held in Mauritius and gathers athletes from Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and the Seychelles. Only one athlete from the Comoros made his way to Mauritius after Karimou Bacar disappeared during a stop over in Reunion Island.

  • Seven African officials succeeded in the examination to be member of the International Technical Officials (ITO) Panel 2006-2009. They are Suren Ayadassen, Vivian Gungaram and Anand Sukhraj, all three from Mauritius, Gerrit Coetzer of South Africa, Moroccan Ahmed Ettannani, Senegalese Fatou Cissokho and Giovanna Rousseau of the Seychelles.

  • South African road athletics is hit by a doping scandal after four runners of the same club (Harmony) tested positive for 19-Norandrosterone in the last few weeks.
    • Gladys Lukhwareni, 25 years old, 4th and 1st South African runner of the Two Oceans Marathon on March 26th dernier, winner of a 10K in Cape Town on September 4th (32:21).
    • Edward Kgosiemang, winner of Cape Town marathon on September 11th (2:16:06)
    • Maxwell Zungu (30 years old), 22nd at the 1998 half-marathon world championships in 1:02:16, 4th of the Linz marathon in 2005 (2:21:18)
    • Merriam Mooki, winner of the Capital Classic Half Marathon in 86:36 on October 15.


  • Moroccan steeplechaser Brahim Boulami will undergo Achilles surgery on November 12.

October 2005
  • More fright than harm for 3000m steeplechase world champion Dorcus Inzikuru, who fell off a motorcycle on October 25th in Arua. The driver who was giving her a lift on his bike tried to avoid a head-on collusion with another vehicule. She'll had to rest for a week before she can get back to training.

  • Hurdler Nabil Salmi, 400H record holder for Algeria since 1997 (50.26) returned a positive drug test - substance not specified more than "a hormon"- on June 14th in a meet in France (Bugeat) - announced Algerian daily Le Soir on September 21st

  • 3000m steeplechase athlete, Alexander Motone of South Africa has been readmitted to competitions after serving a two-year suspension for doping.

July 2005
  • One of Botswana's top long distance runners, Nchenami Siwane committed suicide on July 2nd, aged 19. In 2005 he got a bronze medal in the long race of the Southern Africa cross-country championships and was ranked 49th at the world championships.

June 2005
  • South African hurdler Llewellyn Herbert is now coached by Juan Strydom, since Nico van Heerden has taken up a coaching job in Saudi Arabia.

  • Madagascar hurdler Rosa Rakotozafy, had to end her season prematurely because of an injury to the plantar aponeurosis.

  • Madagascar's hurdler Berlioz Randriamihaja and his wife Lantosoa Razafinjanahary, a former hurdler, became parents of a daughter (Mickaëlla) on June 13.

  • The African junior championships, originally scheduled to take place in Alexandria (Egypt), have been moved and will be hosted in Tunis from 1 to 4 September.

  • South Africa's Alwyn Myburgh, a 400m hurdles finalist at the Athens Olympics, has a stress fratcture in his foot.

May 2005
  • After several changes of mind, Kenyan 10.000m specialist Nicholas Kemboi has now really defected to Qatar. His change of allegiance has been validated by the IAAF and the runner will be allowed to represent his new country at the world championships in Helsinki.

  • South African 800m runner Hezekiel Sepeng tested positive for nandrosterone at an out-of-competition drug test in February. Sepeng was a silver medallist at the 1996 Olympic Games and at the 1999 world championships.

  • South African runner Humphrey Khosi died aged 67. He ran a time of 1:47.9 in the 800m in 1967 but never could compete at the Olympics because of South Africa's apartheid policy.

April 2005
  • South African runner Elana Meyer has announced her retirement at the age of 38. She had won the silver medal in the 10.000m at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona behind Ethiopia's Derartu Tulu.

  • South Africa's Sunette Viljoen, the African record holder in the javelin, found out she was pregnant at the beginning of the month, after a doping test had turned out "positive". The baby is expected in June.

  • Kenyan runner Bernard Lagat, 1500m silver medallist in Athens, has become an American citizen. South African Frantz Kruger has been given clearance by Athletics South Africa (ASA) and the IAAF to apply for Finnish citizenship. The best discus thrower in African is married to Finnish triple jumper Heli Koivula.

  • The logo for the 15th African championships, to be held next year in Mauritius (August 9-13 2006), was unveiled by the organising committee following a contest organised among students in graphic design. The winner, 20 year old Didier Cheung Ho Yan, explained: "I chose to work on the number 15 - in reference to the 15th championships - to draw this logo that also represents the athlete in action".

March 2005
  • Triple jump olympic champion Françoise Mbango was awarded a grant by AES Sonel, Cameroon's national electricity company, to train and study at St John's University (Virginia, USA).

  • South African runner Willie Farrell died of a heart attack, aged 53. He had run the marathon in 2h13'43 in 1980.

February 2005


  • 3000m world youth champion Siham Hilali broke her right leg with 10 meters to go in the 6km junior race of the Moroccan cross-country championships, on February 26. She will be away from competition for 4-5 months.

  • Having fallen behind in his preparations for the summer season, double olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj flew to the United States mid-february for a 45-day training camp in Albuquerque. He is thus unlikely to enter the world cross country championships.

  • The match Africa vs United States, due to take place in Abuja (Nigeria) on March 12th, may get cancelled.

  • Kenyan Philip Ndoo died on February 2nd, aged 58. He had been an athlete (Commonwealth Games in 1970, Olympic Games in 1972), sports journalist at The Nation, a coach and executive officer for the national team, and more recently deputy director of the IAAF Regional Center in Nairobi, working with John Velzian.

  • The young female athlete Samukeliso Sithole (pictures), who had scooped several medals for Zimbabwe at the Southern Africa youth and junior championships, was discovered to be a man.

  • Cameroon sprinter Sylvie Mballa Eloundou, who was granted French citizenship in 2000, decided to switch back to her former country and compete again for Cameroon.

January 2005
  • Former 400m hurdles world champion Nezha Bidouane (Morocco) decided to put her career to an end and will become a coach. Her husband Abdelaziz Saher is also a coach : 2004 1500m junior champion Abdelaati Iguider trains under his guidance.

  • For more than two years, 20 year old Ethiopian runner Zenebech Tola, couldn't move and compete out of Switzerland where she had filed for asylum. Tired of waiting, the athlete who recorded times of 2'02"18 on 800m, 4'07"78 on 1500m and 71'43 in the half-marathon in 2004 has accepted an offer to become a citizen of Bahrain.

  • Cameroon's Hortense Bewouda (400m) and Carole Kaboud Me Bam (400mH) left Dakar High Performance Training Center and now train under Belgian coach Noël Levêque. The former is still in Cameroon, waiting for her visa to go to Belgium.

  • 24 year old Selwyn Lieutier, the leading decathlete in Mauritius, announced he won't compete anymore on the event to devote himself to his new career as a fireman.

  • Fanta Traoré died on January 20th aged 28. She was Ivory Coast's high jump champion in 1992, 1993 and 1998.

  • Burundi's Arthémon Hatungimana, 800m silver medallist at the 1995 world championships in Gothenborg, recently obtained French citizenship and will thus benefit from French subsidies towards high-level athletes.

  • Madagascar's best thrower Doris Ange Ratsimbazafy got a grant from the IAAF to train in Finland for two months.

  • A bag with 10 syringes, two EPO bottles and a box of growth hormone was discoverd in Moroccan runner Aïssa Dghoughi's car during a routine control by French customs at a tollbooth. A 10000m runner (28'12 in 2001) Dghoughi will be prosecuted by the French justice for illegal drug possession.

  • Zimbabwe's quartermiler Lloyd Zvasiya (23y- 45"51 in 2003) was invited by former world indoor 400m champion Daniel Caines to be his training partner for the season. The visa is ready but Zvasiya still has to raise funds for the airfaires to England.

  • Triple jump Olympic champion Françoise Mbango could leave France to go and train in the United States.

  • Ethiopian runner Alem Techale, 2003 World Youth Champion at 1500m and fiancée of Olympic 10000m champion Kenenisa Bekele, died after collapsing during a training run on January 4th.