Ugandan middle-distance runner Janat Chemusto banned from athletics for four years

Ugandan middle-distance runner Janat Chemusto has been banned from athletics for four years after testing positive for doping, announced the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

The organization added that the 25-year-old Ugandan athlete tested positive for the presence of a prohibited substance (19-Norandrosterone).

Janat Chemusto had initially been suspended in August this year when AIU discovered the prohibited substance, but her legal team lodged a challenge. The sample was taken on May 13, 2023, during the Kip Keino Classic Championship held in Nairobi, Kenya, when she clocked a personal best of 4:01.79 min to win the women’s 1,500m. Her punishment takes effect from July 13, 2023, and Janat Chemusto’s results from all competitions since May 13 have been canceled and deleted from the statistics.

The Uganda Athletics Federation president Dominic Otuchet said that although he did not want to comment about the ban, the federation would continue to speak to athletes about doping.