LONDON – Moroccan 1,500 metres runner Mariem Alaoui Selsouli is facing a doping inquiry, International Olympic Committee member Nawal El Moutawakel told Reuters on Tuesday.
Selsouli, a silver medallist at the world indoor championships this year, has already been banned once for doping and would face a lifetime ban if she is found to have broken anti-doping rules again.
“We would have liked if the information was more positive because we counted on her a lot and at the moment I have no more information,” said Moroccan El Moutawakel, who was the first Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal when she triumphed in the 400m at the 1984 Games.
“The inquiry is ongoing but she had a lot of chances to win,” she said.
Selsouli, who set a world season’s best of 3 minutes 56.15 seconds at a meeting in Paris earlier this month, was banned for two years in 2009 for doping with EPO and was suspended for two years.