Ahmed Abdelwahed, who lost to Topi Raitase by more than half a second of the men’s 3000m European Championship gold, has given a doping sample, which was found to contain the banned substance, meldonium.
Italian hurdler Ahmed Abdelwahed has tested positive for doping in connection with the European Championships in Munich. Reported about it Italian media La Repubblica (you are moving to another service). Meldonium, known as a heart medicine, was found in Abdelwahed’s sample.
Abdelwahed lost in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase final at the European Championships in Munich Finland Top for Raitase by 0.55 seconds and got silver.
Raitanen says that he heard about it himself just a moment ago.
– I haven’t familiarized myself with the matter so much that I don’t know what stage the process is at. On the other hand, it’s nice that I beat him by running on the track, and I got to experience that moment. In my case, there is no need to put the medals in a new division, if that’s what the process goes for. It’s good that doping control works. However, it does not sound good that the competition partner is in this situation, Raitanen commented.
Abdelwahed has been Raitase’s familiar competitor for five years. In 2017, the Italian finished silver in the under-23 European Championships. Raitanen was fourth in the same race.
– Of course it surprises. Surely there will be news about it in the next weeks and months and we will hear what has happened. These are unfortunate places for sports, Raitanen says.
In recent years, Raitanen has watched how there have been ups and downs in endurance running and endurance sports in general, so he is not completely surprised by the incident that happened in his own sport.
– Especially for African runners, there has been a lot of trouble. I have hoped that the culture will change. The belief is still strong that you can get by if you are clean. But there have been carts in recent years, says Raitanen.
Even though Abdelwahedi’s run does not affect Raitanen’s ranking, the Finnish runner is upset, for example, by Spain, who finished fourth in the race Daniel Arcen fate if the medals are awarded again. Italy finished third in the EC final Osama Zoghlam.
– You can’t experience that moment, even if you get a medal in the mail. If the process goes to that, it’s sad for the Spaniard that he didn’t get to experience that moment of joy with us at the stadium, Raitanen says.
Abdelwahed denies having used meldonium.
– I hadn’t even heard of meldonium before I was told that it was found in my sample. I’ve never used it, so I’m trying to understand how it got into my urine, Abdelwahed wrote on his Instagram account.
Meldonium has been a banned substance in sports since 2016. The most famous meldonium cart is probably the Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova a case from 2016. In the same year, an Ethiopian-born 1,500-meter world champion who represented Sweden suffered from meldonium Abeba Aregawi.
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