MONACO, Oct 20: 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 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, Qatar. 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 men�s 100-metre 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 January 1, 2019. Her proven missed tests were on March 12, 2019, and January 24, 2020 making the combined time span longer than one year.
The ruling on Naser also swung on a fourth possible violation for an early-morning sample that could not be taken on April 12, 2019, at her apartment in Riffa, Bahrain. � AP
MONACO, Oct 20: 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 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, Qatar. 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 men�s 100-metre 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 January 1, 2019. Her proven missed tests were on March 12, 2019, and January 24, 2020 making the combined time span longer than one year.
The ruling on Naser also swung on a fourth possible violation for an early-morning sample that could not be taken on April 12, 2019, at her apartment in Riffa, Bahrain. � AP
