As of: January 31, 2024, 7:18 a.m
By: Marius Epp
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The German long and middle distance runner Sara Benfares has tested positive for banned substances.
She was banned six months before the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Rehlingen – There has been a case of doping in the German team for the 2024 Olympics.
Sara Benfares from Team Saarland tested positive for two banned substances.
The long-distance and middle-distance runner was already German champion as well as a World Cup and European Championship participant.
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has temporarily banned the athlete.
According to NADA, the banned blood doping agent Epo and testosterone were detected in the 22-year-old by LC Rehlingen.
The Saarbrücker Zeitung
had previously
reported on it.
German Olympic hopeful accused of doping
Sports lawyer Rainer Cherkeh, to whom Benfares referred according to
the Saarbrücker Zeitung
, said according to the report that he would not be commenting on this matter at the moment.
A hearing is said to have taken place at NADA in Bonn on Monday.
Lothar Altmeyer, President of the Saarland Athletics Association, reacted with dismay to the positive tests.
This was “a very bad matter,” he told Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR).
Sara Benfares has been convicted of doping.
© IMAGO/BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Axel Kohring
Six months before the Olympics in Paris: German runner Benfares tested positive
Benfares was twelfth over 5000 meters at the European Athletics Championships in Munich in 2022.
Shortly before, she also competed at the World Championships in Eugene and was eliminated in the preliminary round.
She was German runner-up over 5000 meters in 2022, and won the German title over ten kilometers on the road in the same year.
The German Athletics Association (DLV) has already initiated suspension proceedings against the German Olympic hopeful in accordance with the regulations.
Johannes Kopkow, board member of the Saarland State Sports Association, told the SR that Benfares was temporarily excluded from Team Saarland for the 2024 Olympics.
She will no longer receive financial support from the Saar Sports Foundation until the case is clarified.
(epp/dpa)