Olympic and worlds medalist runner Tsegay banned 4 months in season-ending doping case

MONACO (AP) — Two-time world champion runner and Olympic medalist Gudaf Tsegay was banned for four months in a doping case, track and field authorities said Friday, effectively ending her season.

The 29-year-old Ethiopian — who once held the indoor world record in the women’s 1,500 meters — had failed to ask in advance to use a medication for a diagnosed health condition, the Athletics Integrity Unit said in a statement.

Tsegay tested positive last December for Letrozole, for which she later produced “supporting medical documents and evidence,” the AIU said, acknowledging “she would have received a (therapeutic use exemption) if it had been requested in advance.”

She is suspended through September, missing all meetings on the global Diamond League circuit and the first Ultimate Championships in Budapest from Sept. 11-13.

Tsegay became world champion in the 5,000 meters in 2022 and followed that up by winning the 10,000 at the worlds a year later. She took Olympic bronze in the 5,000 in Tokyo in 2021.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics she ran in the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 but did not medal.

Letrozole can be used in the treatment of breast cancer for postmenopausal women and also control the effects of steroid use. It was the substance that led to a ban for Italian tennis player Sara Errani in 2017.

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