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10 African Athletes Banned For Doping

10 African Athletes Banned For Doping

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In recent years, doping has become a major concern in the global athletics fraternity as competitors from all over the world, including African athletes, resort to performance enhancing drugs to help them emerge victorious in cut-throat competitions.

African athletes, renowned for their prowess on the track have also fallen victim to this sporting evil and paid the ultimate price of career-destroying bans.

Here are 10 great African athletes that were banned due to doping;

Sources: BBC Sport, The Guardian, The New Zealand Herald

Rita Jeptoo winning the 2013 Boston Marathon (Image: zimbio.com)
Rita Jeptoo winning the 2013 Boston Marathon (Image: zimbio.com)

Rita Jeptoo  – Kenya

She is a Kenyan female marathoner. She won the Boston Marathon three times setting the course record of 2:18:57 in 2014. She also won the Chicago marathon (2013, 2014), Stockholm and Milan marathons. She has won several half marathons and represented Kenya at the 2007 World Championships in Japan. In 2014, she tested positive for EPO (Erythropoietin) and was banned for two years by Athletics Kenya. The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), requested Court for Arbitration for Sport to increase the ban to four years.

Brahim Boulami (image: springlfa.se)
Brahim Boulami (image: springlfa.se)

Brahim Boulami  – Morocco

He is a Moroccan runner in the 3,000m men’s steeplechase. He held the world’s fourth fastest time of 7:55:28, in the history of the race. He was banned for two years in 2002 after testing positive for the performance enhancing EPO, a day before he set the world record in the Zurich Diamond League. This record was revoked by IAAF.

Image: eurosport.com
Image: eurosport.com

Susan Chepkemei – Kenyan

She is a long-distance runner. Chepkemei won the Rotterdam Marathon in 2001 and came second in the New York Marathon (2001, 2004). She was placed third in London Marathon in 2005 and 2006. Won silver at 10000m Commonwealth In February 2008, IAAF banned her after she tested positive for Salbutamol, a banned substance. This was later reduced to one year after it was revealed that she took the drug as part of asthma medication during her pregnancy.

Image: runblogrun.com
Image: runblogrun.com

Shitaye Gemechu – Ethiopia

She was the first Ethiopian athlete to test positive for EPO. Gemechu represented Ethiopia in the Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) Olympics. She failed the drugs test in September 2009 after winning the Dexia Route du Vin Half Marathon in Luxembourg and was consequently banned for two years by the Ethiopian Athletics Federation.

Image: foroatletismo.com
Image: foroatletismo.com

Lydia Cheromei  – Kenya

Long distance runner Lydia Cheromei is another of the African athletes on this list. She won the IAAF World Cross Country junior championship in 1991. Cheromei also competed in several half marathons and made her full-marathon debut in 2008 in the Amsterdam Marathon which she won. She was banned for two years in February 2005 for using Clomiphene metabolite, which she said was part of her fertility treatment, prior to giving birth to her daughter.

Image: iaaf.org
Image: iaaf.org

Zahra Bouras – Algeria

She is an Algerian runner in the 400 and 800 meters. Zahra is the daughter of Algerian first Olympic Gold medalist, Hassiba Boulmerka. She won gold medal in the 800 meters by beating former World champion, Kenya’s Janeth Jepkosgei at the African Championships in Nairobi. In June 2012, she tested positive for Stanozol, a banned anabolic during an 800 meters race in the Pro Athlete Tour in France. She was banned for two years and missed the London Olympics and African Championships in Benin.

Image: youtube.com
Image: youtube.com

Tosin Adeloye – Nigeria

She is a Nigerian sprinter. She was banned for two years in December 2012, after testing positive for metenolone, during the National Sports Festival held in Lagos. Adeloye was 16 years at the time of the ban. She resumed competitive athletics in January 2015, after serving the ban and went on to represent Nigeria in 400 meters at The World Athletics championships in Beijing, China, last year.

Image: alchetron.com
Image: alchetron.com

Amantle Montsho – Botswana

She is Botswana sprinter in 400 meters.  Montsho was the first athlete from Botswana to win a gold medal in Commonwealth Games (2010) and World Athletics Championships in Daegu (2011). Montsho failed a drug test for Methylhexaneamine at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. She was banned for two years.

Image: t-online.de/
Image: t-online.de/

Emily Chebet  – Kenya

Another of the African athletes implicated is Emily Chebet, a seasoned Kenyan long distance runner. Chebet won gold medal in the Senior Women’s World Cross Championships, twice in 2010 and 2013, in Bydgoszcz, Poland. She also came third in the Women’s 10,000 meters at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Chebet was banned by IAAF in November, last year after testing positive for furosemide.

Moroccan athelet Mariem Alaoui Selsouli (Image: moroccoworldnews.com)
Moroccan athelet Mariem Alaoui Selsouli (Image: moroccoworldnews.com)

Mariem Alaoui Selsouli – Morocco

She is a middle and long-distance runner. Mariem came second at 1,500 meters final at World Indoor Championships in 2012, Turkey. She was third in 3,000 meters at the indoor championships in Spain.  Mariem was banned for two years in 2009 after testing positive for EPO. She returned to action in 2012 but was banned for eight years, after testing positive for diuretic furosemide.