Athletics
ATHLETICS INTEGRITY UNIT WARNS ON PROHIBITED ASSOCIATION
BY MIKE ROWBOTTOM
Athletes here coached by Alberto Salazar, banned for four years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), are receiving notice from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) prohibiting them from future association.
They include Sifan Hassan, the Ethiopian-born athlete now representing The Netherlands who won the women’s 10,000 metres title here on Saturday (September 28) in only her second race at the distance and is eyeing gold in either the 1,500m or 5,000m.
David Howman, chairman of the AIU, exclusively told insidethegames: “Salazar has been stripped of his accreditation for this event, and that means that notices have to be given to the athletes under his coaching so that they don’t associate with him now that he has been banned.
“No athlete can be charged with prohibited association unless they have been notified about the coach or person they shouldn’t be associated with.
“So we have to give them written, formal notices to say ‘you cannot associate with your coach’.
“We are doing that today.”
Howman stressed there was no direct assumption made about any athlete who may have worked with Salazar.
“An athlete is not guilty by association,” he said.
“Not unless you then defy the prohibition order, so to speak, and return to the coach.
“There are some athletes who will be under our auspices, and some that will be given notice by USADA.
“All we are doing here is notifying those who are here.
“So there are several athletes here who will be getting notices today.
“We just want to make sure that nothing happens here.
“So that’s the immediate issue – making sure the athletes are notified.
“We’ll put something up on our website, USADA will put something up on their website – notice can be by a number of methods.
“But we just chose here for it to be the old-fashioned notice – here’s your piece of paper.”
USADA said Salazar’s punishment was for “orchestrating and facilitating prohibited doping conduct” as head coach of the Nike Oregon Project (NOP), a camp designed primarily to develop US endurance athletes.
It was attended for some years by Britain’s multiple Olympic and world champion Mo Farah until he severed his contract and switched coaches.
USADA said Salazar trafficked banned performance-enhancing substance testosterone to multiple athletes.
Salazar was also said to have tampered, or attempted to tamper, with NOP athletes’ doping control process, the agency said after concluding its four-year investigation.
Jeffrey Brown, who worked as a paid consultant endocrinologist for NOP on performance enhancement and served as a physician for numerous athletes in the training programme, also received a four-year ban.
Asked how big a coup the USADA announcement was in the battle against doping in athletes, Howman responded: “I have to read the decision before I make a comment – and it’s a 142-page decision.
“But it seems to me that what USADA did was an extraordinarily good job in terms of pulling together cases involving not only Salazar, but also the doctor.
“But to know what the tribunal decided in relation to the evidence I don’t know, so I would like to read it very carefully, and then I could say ‘Well this is pretty pivotal, this doesn’t matter’, and so forth.”
Howman said that the relevant section in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Code regarding association had been brought in to play a month ago in relation to the Russian race-walking coach Vladimir Kazarin.
“He was continuing to coach although he had been banned,” he said.
“So we had to have an extra sanction imposed on the athletes he was coaching because they knew that he was banned.
“You also have to appreciate, of course, that those who have been sanctioned have got rights of appeal.
“So we want to be careful about over-stating and over-suggesting.”
To read the full decision on Salazar click here.
For the full judgement on Brown click here.
-insidethegames
BY DAPO SOTUMINU
Nigeria’s Francis James and Blessing Shambaz yesterday emerged winners of the 2nd Lotus Bank Abeokuta 10km Race to go home with the winners prize money of $1,000 in a race that was officially flagged off by the First vice president of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Chief Solomon Ogba, and supported by Mr. Nadin Khan, the president of the World Ultra Running.
James won the men’s race finishing at 30minutes 11seconds to beat all opponents to consolidate on his victory in Abuja when he finished second best in the half marathon held in the Federal Capital Territory middle of the year.
James also emerged the Nigeria’s winner of the World class half marathon.
It will be recalled that James at his last major race in Abuja finished second place in a national half marathon race. He stressed that he used that race to prepare for the Lotus Bank Abeokuta Race and he was very happy winning the race.
He stressed that, the victory at Lotus Bank Abeokuta 10m Race has given him the confidence to do better in others races coming up in Nigeria and its an indication, that he’s very close to making history for Nigeria in subsequent marathon races. He added that, Nigerian runners will pull surprise in the others races not minding the attendance of the East Africans.
In second place for the men’s race is Gyang Raymond at a time of 30 minutes 14 seconds. Gyang got $750 for his effort. While the third place winner is Gyang David Boyi at 30 minutes 54 seconds. Boyi got a cash prize of $500.
In the women 10km race, the runners up that placed second was Daylop Patience at a time of 36minutes 98.28seconds to keep her position in last year’s edition. She got $750.
Third place winner is Agofure Charity at 37minutes 88 seconds.She got $500.
The overall 10km also saw the race by special athletes.
The route of the Lotus Bank Abeokuta Race wore a very active look this morning with the active presence of Febbs table water, a part sponsor of the event.
The volunteers on each points on the route all had Febbs Water on their hands ready to hand them over the runners. The organisers decorated all the runners that crossed the finish line with gold medals, this added to the fanfare and celebrations at the Alake Palace finish line of the race.
The Diamond League will increase its prize money to more than $9 million in 2025, the highest in the history of the series, the organisers have said.
Athletes will make a total of $18 million, with top athletes also receiving promotional fees. Male and female athletes will be paid at the same rate, the Diamond League said in a statement.
“The new total is almost a third higher than the sum paid during the pandemic-affected period of 2021-2024,” the statement said, adding that more will be invested in the athletes’ travel, transport, accommodation, medical and physio services.
Each of the 14 Diamond League meets of the 2025 regular season, scheduled to kick off in April, will award a total prize money of $500,000, with the final in August offering $2.24 million.
“The total prize money per discipline will be between $30,000 and $50,000 at the series meetings and between $60,000 and $100,000 at the final,” the statement added.
The Diamond League’s 2024 season concluded in Brussels last week, with Zurich set to host the 2025 final.
The news comes after World Athletics ended a 128-year tradition by paying Olympic champions at the Paris Games $50,000 each and as rival track events try to muscle in on the circuit long seen as the standard-bearer for professional athletics.
Retired American sprinting great Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track will offer prize money ranging from $100,000 for the winner to $10,000 for the eighth-place finisher at each of four “slams” when the league launches next year.
It will distribute a total of $12.6 million in prize money in 2025.
“In a league of our own,” Grand Slam Track wrote in a post on X, opens new tab on Wednesday, with a breakdown of their prize money.
-Reuters
A record 6,000 runners, local and international from across the African continent and Nigeria have registered for the second edition of the Lotus Bank Abeokuta 10km Run slated for September 28, 2024, as the organisers, Nilayo Sports Management Limited guns for a bronze label status for the race.
The Chief Operating Officer of Nilayo Sports Management Limited, Ebidowie Oweifie, noted that the theme of this year’s edition of the Abeokuta 10km Race titled ‘For Greatness’ out is out to commemorate the birthday anniversary of the Egba paramount ruler, the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo 111, the 10km Run will flag off at Iyana Oloke at 6am and finish at The Alake Palace, Abeokuta.
Kenya’s Peter Nwaniki is the men’s race defending champion at a time of 28 minutes 14 seconds, while Shamila Kipsirir also of Kenya is the women’s defending champion.
Nigeria’s race men’s defending champion is Francis James at 31minutes 08seconds, while the women’s defending champion is Patience Daylop at 36 minutes 31 seconds.
The second edition of Abeokuta10km Race will be sponsored by Lotus Bank, FEBBS Premium Water, Fatgbems Petroleum Limited and Cash Token.
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