Ruti Aga handed six-year ban over doping test and forged prescription

Ethiopian distance runner Ruti Aga has received a six-year ban following a positive doping test and an investigation that found she had submitted a false medical prescription. BBC Sport reported that the former Tokyo Marathon champion was sanctioned for both the prohibited substance and her subsequent efforts to mislead investigators, with the Athletics Integrity Unit announcing the outcome on Thursday.

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The 32-year-old tested positive for methylprednisolone after winning a half marathon in China in March. Reporting by Kenya Broadcasting Corporation identified the event as the Meishan Renshou Half Marathon on 15 March 2026. The substance is a glucocorticoid listed in the S9 category of the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list and is banned in competition.

The case also involved the explanation Aga supplied for the test result. According to the AIU account reported by the BBC, she said the substance came from treatment for a knee injury. She presented a prescription attributed to a clinic that did not exist. The person identified as the prescribing doctor was a relative without medical registration with the relevant authority.

That relative told investigators the prescription had been written on an old pad from a previous workplace. The clinic named in that explanation denied having employed the person and said the prescription was not its own. KBC reported that the Ethiopian Anti-Doping Authority assisted the AIU's investigation, which established that the document was forged.

KBC also set out the sequence behind the tampering finding: Aga provided false information during an interview with AIU representatives on 21 April, then supplied a forged or manipulated document on 4 May purporting to support the prescription. The offences brought separate sanctions of two years for the presence and use of the substance and four years for tampering.

The ban takes effect from 10 September, when Aga's provisional suspension began, according to BBC Sport. Her career includes victory at the 2019 Tokyo Marathon and three runner-up finishes at World Marathon Majors. The six-year sanction therefore follows a provisional suspension already in force, rather than starting from Thursday's announcement.