Refugee Olympian Anjelina suspended for suspected doping

Olympic refugee team runner Anjelina Nadai Lohalith has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for trimetazidine, the banned substance that put Chinese swimmers in the spotlight recently.

Olympic refugee team runner Anjelina Nadai Lohalith has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for trimetazidine. (File Photo) | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Olympic refugee team runner Anjelina Nadai Lohalith has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for trimetazidine, the banned substance that put Chinese swimmers in the spotlight recently, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Tuesday.

The substance is a blood flow booster known commonly as TMZ and was also detected in Russian skater Kamila Valieva during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

“The AIU has provisionally suspended Anjelina Nadai Lohalith (Athlete Refugee Team) for Presence/Use of a Prohibited Substance (Trimetazidine),” the AIU wrote on X, with a final decision on the matter now pending.

READ | Chinese swimmers doping on their mind, US athletes send letter to America’s drug czar asking for answers

Born in 1995, the South Sudanese athlete, who took refuge in Kenya in 2002 to escape the war, made her debut at the Rio Games in 2016 then was part of the refugee Olympic team at the Tokyo Games in 2021, where she participated in the 1,500 metres. She was eliminated in the qualifiers.

The World Anti-Doping Agency came under pressure in April after it was revealed 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

WADA’s decision on the matter was that the swimmers were allowed to compete after accepting China’s findings that they had ingested it unwittingly from food during a meet in late 2020 and early 2021.