{"id":37233,"date":"2026-06-16T11:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T09:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=37233"},"modified":"2026-06-16T11:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T09:56:16","slug":"ethiopian-track-star-tsegay-handed-four-month-doping-ban","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/ethiopian-track-star-tsegay-handed-four-month-doping-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopian track star Tsegay handed four-month doping ban \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two-time world champion Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia has been handed a four-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance letrozole.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The suspension follows an anti-doping test conducted in December last year, which flagged the presence of the substance. Letrozole is strictly prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency as an aromatase inhibitor. While primarily used as a hormone therapy to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer, the drug is also used as an off-label fertility treatment. In sports, it is banned because it can counteract the side effects of anabolic steroids by preventing testosterone from turning into estrogen.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The 29-year-old middle- and long-distance runner is one of the most prominent names in global athletics. Her decorated career includes winning the 5000-metre world title in 2022, the 10 000-metre world title in 2023, and securing an Olympic bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games. She also holds the former world record in the indoor mile.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to the terms of the ruling, Tsegay&#8217;s ban has been backdated to take effect from 1 June and will run through to September 30, 2026. The timing of the four-month sanction effectively sidelines the Ethiopian star for the entirety of the current European summer track season.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":37234,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-37233","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Two-time world champion Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia has been handed a four-month suspension","published_date":"2026-06-16 11:56:08","news_description":"Two-time world champion Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia has been handed a four-month suspension","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37235,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37233\/revisions\/37235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=37233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}