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Athletics: Ban for Onyia

Image: Onyia: Two-year ban

Spanish hurdler Josephine Onyia has been banned for drug offences after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld two IAAF appeals.

Spaniard hit with two-year suspension

Spanish hurdler Josephine Onyia has been banned for drug offences after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld two appeals by the IAAF. CAS annulled initial decisions made by the Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) and she has been suspended for two years as of September 22 this year. Adverse analytical findings were reported for Onyia following a positive test for the substance methylhexaneamine at the Lausanne Grand Prix on September 22 last year and 11 days later at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart. In both cases, the RFEA exonerated the athlete of any doping violation but the IAAF requested the CAS to impose a two year suspension on the athlete. Because Onyia committed the second anti-doping rule offence before she had received notice of the first, the two anti-doping rule breaches have been considered as a single offence.