Six Ethiopian athletes are being investigated for doping, the general secretary of the Ethiopian Athletics Federation told Reuters on Friday.
Bililign Mekoya said blood samples from the unnamed athletes had returned “suspicious results”.
“We have six athletes who have come under suspicion of doping over results received between a period of 14 days to before the end of last week. The matter is under investigation,” Mekoya said.
“They have 14 days to either request further tests or present justifications of involuntary offences,” he added.
Mekoya said none of the athletes under suspicion had competed in the Olympics or world championships. It is a further blow for Ethiopian athletics after world indoor 1500 metres champion Abeba Aregawi was suspended last week after testing positive for a banned substance.
The Ethiopian-born Aregawi, who competed for the country at the 2012 Olympics before taking Swedish citizenship, won the world outdoor 1500 metres title in 2013, before claiming indoor gold a year later.
Athletics has been rocked by a series of doping scandals in recent months. Russia is barred from international competition, while Ethiopia’s east African neighbour, Kenya, is battling to avoid being declared non-compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Meanwhile, earlier reports said Tokyo Marathon winner Endeshaw Negesse has become the first Ethiopian named in connection with a failed drugs test following reports that as many as nine athletes from the distance running powerhouse are under investigation. Negesse tested positive for Meldonium, the same recently banned substance which it emerged that Aregawi had failed for this week.
Official confirmation was expected on Friday. Negesse beat reigning Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda en route to victory in Tokyo last year, crossing the line in a time of 2hours 06min 00sec. This followed a personal best of 2:04:52 when finishing fourth at the 2013 Dubai Marathon. The 28-year-old’s other higher profile victory came at the 2012 Florence Marathon, where he won in 2:09:59.
This comes after Solomon Meaza, the general secretary of the Ethiopian Anti-Doping Agency, revealed how nine of the country’s runners were under investigation.
Five of them are “top athletes”, the official told Associated Press.
— Reuters and insidethegames.biz
