Nigeria-born bahraini athlete was provisionally suspended for missing three drug tests in a 12-month span.
Salwa Eid Naser, who ran the third-fastest 400m in history when winning gold at last year’s world championships in Doha, is facing a two-year ban after being provisionally suspended for missing three drug tests in a 12-month period.
Salwa Eid Naser, who last year clocked the third fastest 400 metres time in history, has claimed missing three drugs tests “is normal” after being provisionally suspended for doping whereabouts failures.
The Nigerian-born Bahraini also said her alleged failures all took place before her astonishing 48.14-second run at the World Championships in October, sparking anger over how she came to compete at the event
The 22-year-old took nearly a second off her personal best in running 48.18 in Doha – the fastest time by a woman since 1985. Only the East German Marita Koch and the Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova have ever run faster.
2019 Doha World Championship 400m Final
The suspension was confirmed in a statement by the Athletics Integrity Unit, which said Naser had been issued with a charge for violating World Anti-Doping Agency rules.
Athletes are required to record details of their whereabouts for one hour every day in case they need to be tested. A violation means an athlete did not fill out forms telling authorities where they could be found, or that they were not where they said they would be when testers arrived.
The AIU has provisionally suspended Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain for whereabouts failures, a violation of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules,
There are two types of whereabouts failures:
Type 1- Missed tests (when a doping control officer attempts to drug test an athlete during their daily one-hour window and the athlete is not available)
Type 2- Filing failures (in which an athlete’s whereabouts information is inaccurate or incomplete). Three whereabouts failures in a 12-month span triggers a suspension. It is not yet known which combination led to Naser’s suspension.
Nader said “the missed tests” came before last autumn’s world championships, where she ran the third-fastest time in history (48.14 seconds) and the fastest in 34 years. “This year I have not been drug tested,” she said ‘We are still talking about the ones of last season before the Doha world championships”
The Athletics Integrity Unit, which handles doping cases for track and field, did not announce whether Naser’s gold medal could be stripped. “Hopefully , it get resolved because I don’t really like the image, but it has happened, “she said. “It’s going to be fine. It’s vey hard to have this little stain on my name.“
“I would never take performance-enhancing drugs,” Naser said. “I believe in talent, and I know I have the talent.”