Ethiopian middle-distance runner Diribe Welteji has been barred from taking part in the 20th world track championships in Tokyo, Japan over allegedly refusing a drug test, APA can report on Sunday.
According to Entertainment and Sports Program Network (ESPN) the decision is over an allegedly missing scheduled test for doping in May . The allegation is that she “refused to take a doping test in May this year.”
Welteji, the silver medalist in the 1,500 meters in 2023 world championships, was set to compete on Saturday but has now been “declared ineligible” by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Welteji was cleared by an Ethiopian anti-doping panel last month, but the Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees doping cases on behalf of World Athletics, appealed to CAS last Thursday and asked for Welteji to be suspended until the case is resolved. That request has now been granted.
The 23-year-old Ethiopian would have been a medal contender in Tokyo. Welteji is second in the world rankings in the 1,500 and this year won the silver medal at the world indoor championships. The decision came a day before her first race at the competition.
The Ethiopian Athletics Federation is rejecting the claim from The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). Ayalew Tilahun, a senior doctor of Team Ethiopia at the Ethiopian Athletics Federation, reportedly said the federation, which is a member of the World Athletics Federation, investigated the matter and absolved her of any wrongdoing.
However, the AIU of the International Athletics Federation chose to raise the matter again when she was about to start her 1500 race in Tokyo.
Tilahun said that she was included in the team after the federation investigated her and found out that the allegation was incorrect.
The federation would not have included her if it did not have the conviction that she is free from doping.
MG/as/APA