Sweden’s Bahta gets one-year backdated ban after missing tests

The athlete has been served a one-year ban after failing to properly disclose her location for doping tests.

Representative image: Meraf Bahta had not been found guilty of doping, but had been victim of an administrative mistake that saw her fail to give her whereabouts for tests three times within 12 months last season.

Sweden’s Eritrean-born Meraf Bahta, European 5,000m champion in 2014, has been served a backdated one-year ban after failing to properly disclose her location for doping tests, the Swedish athletics federation announced on Monday.

The ban was backdated between September 1, 2018, and August 31, 2019, meaning Bahta will be able to run, if selected, at the World Championships in Doha which starts on September 28.

Federation head Stefan Olsson said Bahta had not been found guilty of doping, but had been victim of an administrative mistake that saw her fail to give her whereabouts for tests three times within 12 months last season.

Bahta, who moved to Sweden in 2008, represented Eritrea at world cross-country championships and All-Africa Games before switching allegiance and going on to also win European 5,000m silver in 2016 and 10,000m bronze in 2018 for her adopted country.