The coach of the 1500m world champion Genzebe Dibaba has been arrested in a hotel in Spain after traces of EPO and other banned substances were found in some of the rooms where his party were staying.
Jama Aden, a Somalian distance running coach, has also coached 2008 Beijing Olympics 800m silver medallist Ismael Ahmed Ismael and 2012 London Olympics 1500m champion Taoufik Makhloufi in addition to many other international athletes.
An unnamed Moroccan physiotherapist was also arrested in the hotel near to Barcelona; an area in which Aden has conducted training camps since 2013.
The raid on the hotel where Aden and over 20 athletes were staying took place on Monday 20th June and is said to be a joint operation carried out by local police, the Spanish national anti-doping agency (AEPSAD) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The IAAF later claimed in a statement that Aden’s arrest is the result of an investigation that began in 2013.
The majority of the athletes staying in the hotel were subject to drug tests after the raid, although none of those athletes have been named.
It is possible that Aden could face prosecution in Spain, where organising doping is considered to be a criminal offence.
