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Swede Aregawi faces Olympic axe

Former 1500m world champion Abeba Aregawi has failed a doping test.

Swedish 1500m runner Abeba Aregawi
Former 1500m track world champion Abeba Aregawi has failed a doping test. (AAP)

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Source: AAP


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Former 1500-metre world champion Abeba Aregawi has been banned from Swedish athletics after she tested positive for an unspecified banned substance.

The suspension means the Ethiopian-born runner's place in the Swedish team for the Rio Olympics in August is now in doubt.

Local media reported the positive check on Aregawi's A sample was taken in Addis Adaba earlier this year and that Aregawi has asked for her B sample to be tested for the current world indoor 1500m champion.

"We can't understand it," her Dutch manager Jos Hermens told the Expressen newspaper.

"We are trying to work out what has happened. It's very strange."

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The Swedish Olympic Committee (SOC) moved swiftly to withdraw their financial support for Aregawi and she is highly unlikely to be part of the Rio Games team.

Having run for Ethiopia at the 2012 London Games, Aregawi began competing for Sweden later that year after being granted citizenship.

She won the world outdoor 1500m title in 2013.


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