MONACO: Salwa Eid Naser was already being investigated for missing doping tests when she raced to an upset win in the 400 metres at the world track and field championships.

The Athletics Integrity Unit confirmed on Sunday that Naser was already under scrutiny for three whereabouts failures prior to her world championship win in Doha in October.

That means that Naser could be stripped of her gold medal if she’s found guilty. She also faces missing next year’s Olympics in Tokyo.

The Nigeria-born sprinter, who represents Bahrain, surged past Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo to win in 48.14 seconds, the fastest time since 1985.

The AIU, which oversees drug testing and disciplinary cases in track, said on Sunday that Naser had already been under investigation at the time, and that she racked up a fourth whereabouts failure in January.

AIU records show she wasn’t charged and provisionally suspended until this week. The AIU statement didn’t explain the reason for the delay.

The investigation into Ms Naser’s three whereabouts failures in 2019 was ongoing at the time of the Doha World Championships and she was not provisionally suspended at that time,” the AIU said in a statement.

Following conclusion of the investigation and a fourth whereabouts failure in January 2020, a Notice of Charge was issued and Ms Naser subject to an immediate provisional suspension.”

The AIU added it would not comment any further as the disciplinary process was still ongoing.

Naser said in an Instagram Live video on Friday that she was not a cheat and that missing three drugs tests before the world champ­ionships“is normal and can happen to anybody”, according to an account of her broadcast published by NBC.

The 22-year-old Naser, who had said she had not been tested this year, hoped she could soon put the issue behind her.

It can happen to anybody. I don’t want people to get confused in all this because I would never cheat,” she had said on the video. Hopefully, it’ll get resolved because I don’t really like the image... It’s going to be fine. It’s very hard to have this little stain on my name.”

Athletes are required to provide regular updates on their whereabouts to make it possible for anti-doping authorities to carry out surprise testing outside of competition. A violation means an athlete either did not fill out forms telling authorities where he or she could be found, or that athletes weren’t where they said they would be when testers arrived.

Three violations within 12 months can lead to a suspension if the athletes cant justify why they weren’t available for testing.

The provisional suspension is the latest in a series of cases against Bahrain’s elite squad of female runners originally from African countries. Olympic steeplechase champion Ruth Jebet was banned for four years in March for EPO and Olympic marathon runner-up Eunice Kirwa picked up a four-year ban last year.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2020