Denmark’s probably best-known long-distance runner in recent times, Abdi Ulad, has been caught for doping. The more familiar substance trimetazidine.
The runner himself writes this in a long message on his Facebook profile.
Here, Abdi Ulad also says that he did not take the drug to become a better athlete.
– I was completely out there, where my desperation was stronger than my values, and I made the worst decision of my life. I swallowed a pill containing the substance trimetazidine, which is on the doping list – not to get better, but to feel better, writes Abdi Ulad on Facebook.
Abdi Ulad, who ran to 23rd place in the marathon at the 2020 Olympics, also says that Anti Doping Denmark knocked on the door two days after taking the drug to carry out a routine check.
– Here I was faced with having to make one of the most important decisions in my life. Either I had to tell my wife to go downstairs and open the door and tell her I wasn’t home. That way, I would get a warning for not complying with my where-abouts, and then the world would probably never find out that I had a banned substance in my body.
– I could also choose to go downstairs myself and open the door, invite Anti Doping Denmark inside, and let myself be tested. I chose the latter, because when it knocked on my door, it was my rescue and help that was let in, writes Abdi Ulad.
Anti Doping Denmark has since informed Ulad that the analysis of the A sample contained traces of trimetazidine, and that the runner is therefore temporarily excluded from all training and competition.
Ulad did not want a B sample, as he has acknowledged the intake of the substance on the doping list. Therefore, he will take the staff that the doping board gives him.
– It is important for me to say that I never took the pill to win a race, to cheat or to lie to anyone. I took the pill because I had come so far that I could no longer handle the situation myself, writes Abdi Ulad.
Ekstra Bladet has been in contact with Abdi Ulad’s sports manager in Hvidovre AM, Michael Bruun Jepsen, who confirms Abdi Ulad’s story on Facebook.
Michael Bruun Jepsen also states, like Ulad himself on Facebook, that the runner has no further comments on the matter, just as he does not want to tell more about the personal challenges that caused Abdi Ulad to take the drug.