NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s Olympic committee sent home a sprinting coach from the Rio Games on Thursday after he posed as an athlete and gave a urine sample to drug testers, deepening concerns about the country’s efforts to tackle doping, which has tarnished its reputation.

2016 Rio Olympics - Opening ceremony - Maracana - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 05/08/2016. Flagbearer Shehzana Anwar (KEN) of Kenya leads her contingent during the opening ceremony. REUTERS/Richard Heathcote/Pool

John Anzrah was sent home after a drug test at an Olympic venue, according to Kip Keino, a running great and chairman of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Kenya.

“He presented himself as an athlete, gave the urine sample and even signed the documents. We cannot tolerate such behavior,” Keino said in a telephone interview from Rio.

“We don’t even know how he came here because we (NOC) did not facilitate his travel here,” added Keino.

The East African nation boasts some of the world’s best middle and long-distance runners, but more than 40 of its competitors have failed drug tests since 2012 and its athletics federation has been mired in corruption scandals linked to doping.

The concerns over Kenya’s doping problem were so large that at one point the country’s participation at the Olympics was under threat.

It was not clear which athlete Anzrah was pretending to be.

A senior source at Kenya’s running federation said he had spoken to the concerned athlete, who claims Anzrah used his accreditation purely to obtain free meals from the athletes’ village.

“When the anti-doping officials met him, they assumed he was the athlete and that he was lined up for testing,” said the source.

“The coach, for fear of being exposed or discovered, did not explain to the anti-doping guy that he is actually not the athlete. Hence he played along and went for the test,” said the source.

Anzrah was not immediately available for comment.

IOC INVESTIGATION

The International Olympic Committee said it had set up a disciplinary commission to investigate the matter.

“We take note of the decision of the Kenyan Olympic Committee to send home its athletics coach following a violation of anti-doping rules and we thank the NOC for its swift action,” a spokesperson said.

“The IOC has immediately created a disciplinary commission to look into the matter with regard to the coach and the athlete concerned.”

Last week, Kenya sent their track and field manager Michael Rotich home from the Games following allegations that he requested money to let undercover journalists, posing as athlete representatives, know when drugs testers would come calling.

Rotich denied the accusations but was arrested on his return to Nairobi, where a judge ordered the police to hold him for four weeks during the doping probe.

The latest doping allegations, coming on the eve of the first track and field competition, arrive at an awkward time for organizers and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which this month removed Kenya from its list of nations deemed ‘non-compliant’ with its doping code.

WADA changed its stance on Kenya after the country’s parliament introduced new legislation to punish drug cheats.

Keino, a two-time gold medalist, had been the first senior Kenyan official to sound alarm bells about the scale of doping in Kenya. In the past he has often complained about his concerns being ignored by government officials.

At the opening ceremony of Rio Games, Keino was honored with the first-ever Olympics Laurel for his work in promoting sport and education for the poor in Kenya.