The Athletics Integrity Unit ruled that Nijel Amos, a silver medallist in the men’s 800 metres at the 2012 Olympics, has been given a three-year doping suspension.
The Botswana runner who tested positive for the prohibited chemical GW1516 prior to the track world championships last year was spared the regular four-year suspension since he agreed to the allegations. Amos cannot participate in the Paris Olympics because of the ban.
At the 2012 London Olympics, Amos, who was then 18 years old, finished second to Kenya’s world record-breaking David Rudisha to win the silver medal and become Botswana’s first-ever medalist in the 800 metres. The doping verdict had no impact on his silver medal.
Amos, who is 29 years old, is a three-time Olympian and a Commonwealth Games and African Championships champion. The junior world record is still held by his time of 1 minute, 41.73 seconds at the 2012 Olympics.
According to the AIU decision, Amos requested tests be conducted on a supplement he had been consuming prior to the positive result. The AIU stated that neither the bottle he had used nor a different, unopened container of the identical supplement had any traces of GW1516. It further stated that Amos then completed a document confessing to the doping allegations.
GW1516 was created to boost fat burning and endurance, however experiments on animals revealed that it also causes cancer. Athletes have been cautioned not to use it by anti-doping organizations for safety reasons. It was discovered in doping cases involving different sports and resulted in a ban for another medalist from the 2012 Olympics, Russian racewalker Elena Lashmanova.
