Kenyan-born Bahraini stripped of gold

NAIROBI, Aug 3 (Reuters) World athletics chiefs have stripped Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Taher Tareq Mubarak of the gold medal he won at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Morocco after ruling he had falsified his age.

Kenya's Abel Kiprop has been awarded Mubarak's 2,000m steeplechase gold, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) told Athletics Kenya in a letter seen by Reuters today.

''Indeed, it has been proven that (Mubarak's) birth did not comply with the age limit of the youth category,'' IAAF chief Pierre Weiss said in the letter.

''Consequently, your athlete Mutai Abel Kiprop has become world champion ... and as such he will receive his gold medal from IAAF shortly.'' Mubarak, who was born Dennis Kipkurui Keter, and world junior 800m/1,500m champion Belal Mansour Ali, formerly John Yego, were arrested in Nairobi in July 2006 on similar allegations about their ages after they took part in the 2005 world cross-country and world junior championships. They were later released.

REUTERS TB KN1700