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Salwa Eid Naser, the women’s 400-metre world champion, was provisionally suspended for missing at least three drug tests over a 12-month period of time. The appealable suspension was handed down in June 2020. The decision was overturned in October.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) is appealing the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The Bahraini won the Doha World Athletics Championships in the time of 48.14 seconds, which represents a massive personal best and the fastest time run in the world since 1985. The world record was set by East German athlete Marita Koch at 47.60.
The case was dismissed by a World Athletics Tribunal. It was revealed that the doping control officer knocked on a storage unit door rather than Naser’s apartment door The tester was confused as to where her apartment door was.
“This was a case very much on the borderline,” according to the report.
“I’ve never been a cheat. I will never be,” Naser said in June. “I only missed three drug tests, which is normal. It happens. It can happen to anybody. I don’t want people to get confused in all this because I would never cheat.”
Naser was found guilty of three whereabouts failures but cleared of the missed test charge, relating to an incident that happened on 12 April 2019.
