For Dominic Lokolong Atiol, running was more than a sport. Orphaned at the age of 11, the South Sudanese runner fled to Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp, where poverty and limited resources became the backdrop of his childhood. Without proper running shoes, he sometimes relied on borrowed footwear just to train and compete. Despite those struggles, Atiol went on to represent the Athlete Refugee Team at the 2018 World U20 Championships. But eight years later, the same athlete has been handed an eight-year ban by the AIU for violating anti-doping rules.

The sanction was announced by the AIU on June 30, confirming that Atiol had been banned from March 19, 2024, for the Presence and Use of the prohibited substance Trimetazidine, as well as Tampering with the doping control process. In addition, all of his results from February 9, 2024, onward have been disqualified.

According to the AIU decision, Atiol provided an out-of-competition urine sample in Eldoret, Kenya, on February 9, 2024. Analysis later revealed the presence of Trimetazidine. After being notified of the positive test in March 2024, Atiol told investigators that he had been ill and had taken medication prescribed by a doctor. He submitted prescription documents that appeared to show he had been prescribed Vastarel MR in January 2024.

However, a lengthy investigation by the AIU and the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya raised serious questions about those documents. Investigators found inconsistencies in pharmacy records and noted signs that some dates had been altered. Records obtained from the pharmacy also showed no evidence that Atiol had visited the facility on the date he claimed to have received the prescription.

A key development in the investigation occurred in April 2025 when the doctor involved admitted that Atiol “did not receive any treatment at the pharmacy on 24 January 2024” and “had not been prescribed Vastarel MR (Trimetazidine) on that date”. The evidence collected resulted in the AIU determining that the documents submitted by the athlete with their prescription were “forged/manipulated documents” in addition to the doping violation.

Therefore, the AIU found Atiol guilty of both Presence and Use of a Prohibited Substance and Tampering. According to the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, Rule 2.1 ADR and Rule 2.2 ADR, the Trimetazidine violation entailed a mandatory four-year sanction. The tampering violation led to an additional four-year ban.

The athlete was formally charged on June 3, 2026, and was allowed to challenge the allegations, request a hearing, or accept the sanction in exchange for a potential reduction. According to the AIU, he did not respond to the charge. As a result, the AIU deemed that Atiol had admitted the violations and accepted the consequences. His period of ineligibility runs from March 19, 2024, through March 18, 2032.

Atiol is not the first member of the Athlete Refugee Team to face an anti-doping sanction in recent years.

Another refugee Team runner sanctioned for Trimetazidine

Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, a South Sudan-born middle-distance runner who represented the IOC Refugee Olympic Team at both the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics, was banned after testing positive for Trimetazidine. The positive test was received following the World Athletics Cross Country Championships 2024 in March 2024 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Her provisional suspension was announced on April 30, 2024, by the Athletics Integrity Unit. She was then reported to be facing a potential four-year ban as Trimetazidine was deemed a non-specified prohibited substance under the WADA Code at the time.

The AIU later made its final ruling, which resulted in three years of ineligibility. Her ban was retroactive to March 30, 2024, and she must serve for 20 months through April 29, 2027. Unlike the violations in Atiol’s case, where he had a separate violation for tampering that doubled his sanction, Lohalith’s sanction was due to the presence and use of the prohibited substance.