Genzebe among those tested in coach’s doping arrest

It has now emerged that Jama Aden, the coach of Ethiopian women 1500m world record holder and 2015 athlete of the year, Genzebe Dibaba was arrested for doping in Spain after a lengthy investigation by world body, IAAF with the favourite for Rio Olympics gold among those tested following the bust at a Spanish hotel.

The athletics fraternity is reeling from the arrest of the Somali coach who also trains Djibouti’s Intercontinental and African champion, Ayanleh Suleiman with reports from Spain saying traces of blood booster, EPO and syringes were found in a room he was occupying.

“The arrest today of distance running coach Jama Aden follows a lengthy investigation by the IAAF which began in 2013, working in close cooperation with Interpol, the Spanish authorities, including the Spanish National Anti-Doping Agency (AEPSAD), Spanish police and other organisations,” the IAAF said in a statement.

“The IAAF will use all available resources and powers to protect clean athletes and the integrity of our sport. This includes targeting and investigating individuals and coaches who are intent on exploiting athletes and promoting the use of prohibited substances.”

Spanish police said the two men were held on suspicion of administering illegal substances to athletes.

IAAF officials also carried out doping tests on 27 athletes training in Sabadell, 20 km north of Barcelona, police said.

Dibaba, 25, the sister of triple Olympic distance champion Tirunesh Dibaba and Olympic silver medallist Ejegayehu Dibaba, is hot favourite for the 1,500m at the Rio Olympics.

In July last year in Monaco she ran a world record time of three minutes 50:07 seconds in the 1,500 metres to overhaul the 1993 mark of 3.50.46 set by China’s Qu Yunxia.

Aden was found with EPO and other banned substances in a hotel outside Barcelona.

He was detained by Spanish police along with an unnamed trainer from Morocco as 22 athletes who were also guests at the Sabadell hotel, including Dibaba, were drug-tested.

The raid came after four weeks of round-the-clock surveillance following a three-year investigation.

Britain’s double Olympics and world distance champion, Mo Farah distanced himself on Monday night from Aden and his stable of medal-winning runners who the double Olympic champion has trained alongside in Ethiopia.

There were also questions for UK Athletics about why they allowed one of their most high-profile athletes to be so closely linked to Aden.

The Daily Mail revealed the governing body in the UK rejected Aden, who was based in Sheffield for 17 years with his English wife, for a coaching job in 2006 but still used him as an ‘unofficial facilitator’ for Farah’s high-altitude training camp near Addis Ababa in 2015.

The raid came as Aden and his athletes returned to their four-star hotel at 11am on Monday after a training session. EPO, other unnamed medicines and unlabelled products were found in at least two of four hotel rooms that were searched by Spanish police. The investigation — which has been led by the IAAF along with Interpol and the World Anti-Doping Agency — threatens to blow apart East African distance running.

“We’re very confident of bringing anti-doping violation charges,’ a member of the IAAF’s anti-doping department told Daily Mail.

“Jama can be questioned for the next 72 hours by Spanish police. Whether we can charge him will depend on what exactly we have found but if he is charged we will interview him to see if he wishes to divulge any information which can implicate anyone else.”

The IAAF expect the results of the urine and blood tests they took from the athletes, some of whom were not part of Aden’s group, by Friday.

Other athletes who have been coached by Mr Aden include two-time world indoor 800m champion Abubaker Kaki Khamis and 2008 Beijing Olympics 800m silver medallist Ismael Ahmed Ismael, both from Sudan, and 2012 London Olympics 1,500m champion Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria.

Report by Reuters, Daily Mail and BBC