Nijel Amos handed three-year doping ban
Amos, 29, was provisionally suspended during the World Athletics Championships last summer after metabolites of GW1516 were found in a sample
The Commonwealth Games champion Nijel Amos has been banned for three years after testing positive for a drug that was pulled from clinical trials because it caused cancer in animals.
The Botswana athlete, who won the 800m in Glasgow in 2014 after finishing runner-up to David Rudisha at the 2012 Olympics, accepted the charge and punishment, said the Athletics Integrity Unit.
Amos, 29, was provisionally suspended during the World Athletics Championships last summer after metabolites of GW1516 were found in a sample.
Amos asked for a laboratory to test a supplement he claimed to have used before the adverse analytical finding, but no GW1516 was found.
He was given ten days to offer an explanation, but failed to do so. The usual four-year ban was then cut by a year due to his early admission and acceptance of the sanction.
The substance was developed in the 1990s as a treatment for diabetes, obesity and heart disease, but trials on mice found that it caused rapid development of cancer.
It is not only banned in sporting events, but is illegal in medication, supplements and food as it is not considered safe for human consumption. USA Track & Field and other track bodies have issued safety warnings about using it.
Nevertheless, it has become a popular drug for sporting cheats because it increases aerobic power and endurance. In 2017 more than 30 athletes tested positive for it worldwide.
The Russian race walker Elena Lashmanova was stripped of her gold medal from the 2012 Olympics for testing positive for the substance.
Four years ago the boxer Jarrell Miller’s fight with Anthony Joshua was called off after he tested positive for a cocktail of banned substances that included GW1516.
Amos’s result from 2012 will stand, but the number of London medallists subsequently banned continues to tarnish the event.
Across all sports, 38 individual medallists and two track relay teams have now been stripped of medals, including 15 Olympic champions. In October Natalya Antyukh, the 400m hurdles winner, was stripped of her gold.
The women’s 800m, 1,500m and 3,000m steeplechase champions, plus the shot put and hammer champions, have also been stripped of their medals, along with the men’s high jump and 50km walking gold medal winners.
Amos’s ban is backdated to the date of his provisional suspension, July 12, and will expire in July 2025.
He tested positive at a Diamond League meeting in Rabat, Morocco, where he finished second.
