Former world indoor champ Adekoya gets 4-year doping ban

MONACO (AP) — Former world indoor 400-meter champion Kemi Adekoya has been banned for four years for doping in another drug case to hit Bahrain’s squad of elite African-born runners.

The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees doping cases in track and field, says Adekoya tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol. Her ban is backdated from November 2018.

Adekoya competed for Nigeria but switched allegiance to Bahrain ahead of the 2014 Asian Games. Since then, she’s won four Asian Games gold medals and an Asian championship title.

Bahrain’s longstanding policy of fielding African-born runners has come under scrutiny after Olympic marathon silver medalist Eunice Kirwa was banned for four years last month in a doping case. Another distance runner, Violah Jepchumba, was banned last year.