Botswana Olympic medalist Nijel Amos banned for doping

Nijel Amos, a 2012 Olympic silver medalist within the males’s 800 meters, has been banned for 3 years for doping, the Athletics Integrity Unit stated in a ruling revealed Wednesday.

The runner from Botswana examined constructive for the banned substance GW1516 final 12 months within the run-up to the observe world championships and acquired a discount on the usual four-year ban as a result of he admitted to the costs. The ban guidelines Amos out of subsequent 12 months’s Paris Olympics.

Amos equaled the third-fastest time in 800 historical past on the age of 18 when he received the silver medal behind world record-breaking David Rudisha of Kenya on the 2012 London Video games, turning into Botswana’s first-ever Olympic medalist. His silver medal is just not affected by the doping ruling.

The 29-year-old Amos is a three-time Olympian who has received titles on the African Championships and Commonwealth Video games. His time of 1 minute, 41.73 seconds from the 2012 Olympics stays the world junior report.

The AIU ruling stated Amos initially requested for exams to be run on a complement he had been taking earlier than the constructive take a look at. No traces of GW1516 have been present in both the bottle he had used or one other, unopened bottle of the identical complement, the AIU stated, including Amos then signed a kind admitting to the doping expenses.

GW1516 was developed to assist construct endurance and burn fats however was discovered to trigger most cancers throughout exams on rodents. Anti-doping organizations have warned athletes to not apply it to security grounds. It has been present in doping circumstances in varied sports activities and in addition led to a ban for one more 2012 Olympic medalist, Russian racewalker Elena Lashmanova.