The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) issued a notice of charge against the Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA) for “serious anti-doping rule violations” and “historical breaches of the World Athletics anti-doping rules” just eight months before the Paris Olympics.
Although the AIU stopped short of recommending an outright ban, it resulted in Bahrain being limited to enter a maximum of 10 athletes in Paris, and again for next year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, and the BAA agreeing to spend up to $7.3 million over four years to address the doping and integrity risk in athletics in Bahrain.
A ban was imposed on Bahrain from competing in any other World Athletics Series events for 12 months from June 1st, 2024.
Of the 10 Bahrain athletes who did compete in Paris, two won medals – Winfred Mutile Yavi winning the women’s 3,000m steeplechase in an Olympic record of 8:52.76, before Salwa Eid Naser won the silver medal in the women’s 400m in a season best of 48.53, and where Rhasidat Adeleke finished fourth.
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Bahrain finished 14th on the overall athletics medal table.
The 26-year-old Naser, who won the World 400m title in 2019, was previously banned for two years in June 2021 for an anti-doping violation, missing three tests within a 12-month period.
According to the AIU, the independent anti-doping unit of World Athletics, in December 2023 the AIU Board issued a notice of charge against Bahrain following a thorough 18-month investigation into their compliance with anti-doping obligations by member federations which are separate to the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) code.
The impetus for the investigation was “the serious anti-doping rule violations committed by two Bahraini athletes at the Tokyo Olympic Games for homologous blood transfusions”, and “the discovery that the BAA had engaged a coach to work with the national team between 2019 and 2021, who was in fact banned from sport for anti-doping rule violations”.
The BAA was charged with “conducting itself in relation to doping, negligently and/or recklessly and/or so as to prejudice the interests of World Athletics or bring the sport of athletics into disrepute”.
And also for “failing to take reasonable measures when engaging athlete support personnel to ensure they are of good character and repute and that the risk of doping in relation to their engagement is minimised”.
On Thursday, the World Athletics Council issued a press release approving the recommendations from the AIU Board concerning the measures and corrective actions to be imposed on Bahrain, including the establishment of an independent and WADA-compliant Bahrain National Anti-doping Organisation (NADO).
“The creation of a new NADO in Bahrain is a particularly significant outcome for clean sport,” said David Howman, chair of the AIU. “It has cooperated fully with the investigation and taken a lead in creating the strategic plan and operational roadmap required to create real change within the federation and within the sport.”
It was also agreed Bahrain will not apply for any transfers of allegiance or recruit any foreign athletes until 2027, and instead will establish and fund a talent academy to prioritise the development of local talent.
In the view of the AIU Board, “a satisfactory outcome to the matter has been reached, one which appropriately balances the need for punitive measures to send a strong message, and the goal of creating real change within the federation and within the sport”.
Naser, meanwhile, is still free to race for the rest of the season, the Diamond League not part of the World Athletics Series events, and she will line-up in Sunday’s Silesia Diamond League meeting in Poland alongside the two other Olympic medal winners in Paris – Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic who won gold, and Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek who won bronze.
Adeleke will also race in Silesia for the first time since finishing fourth in Paris.
