World champion Naser wins doping case on technicality

Published October 21, 2020
IN this Oct 4, 2019 file photo, gold medallist Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain poses during the 400-metre medal ceremony at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.—Reuters
IN this Oct 4, 2019 file photo, gold medallist Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain poses during the 400-metre medal ceremony at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.—Reuters

MONACO: The women’s 400-metre world champion has avoided being banned for a doping rule violation on a technicality, according to a ruling published on Tuesday.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said the charges against Bahraini runner Salwa Eid Naser for missed tests and filing failures were dismissed by an independent tribunal.

Naser, who was born in Nigeria but competes for Bahrain, will keep her title and has been cleared to compete at next year’s Tokyo Olympics. The 22-year-old Naser ran the fastest women’s 400 since 1985 to win the world title last year in Doha.

The same technicality counting back the date of a rule violation to take effect from the start of a three-month period also allowed American sprinter Christian Cole­man to avoid a ban and win the mens 100-meter world title last year.

Both Naser and Coleman were charged by the AIU for at least three whereabouts failures” within a 12-month period, which can lead to a two-year ban.

Athletes must give updates on a World Anti-Doping Agency online platform where they can be found for no-notice testing outside of competition. A violation means an athlete gave wrong information or was not where they said they would be when sample collectors arrived.

As in Coleman’s case, Naser’s three proven whereabouts failures happened within a 12-month calendar period but were spread out over more than one year.

Although Naser failed to file accurate information to give a sample on March 16, 2019, it technically counted as happening at the start of the quarter on Jan 1, 2019. Her proven missed tests were on March 12, 2019, and Jan 24, 2020 making the combined time span longer than one year.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2020

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