Ruti Aga handed six-year ban after positive test and forged prescription

Ethiopian marathon runner Ruti Aga has received a six-year ban after a positive doping test and an investigation into a false medical prescription submitted to explain it. The Athletics Integrity Unit announced the sanction on Thursday, October 22. According to BBC Sport, the penalty comprises two years for the prohibited substance and four years for tampering with evidence and misleading investigators.

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The case began after Aga won the Meishan Renshou Half Marathon in China on March 15, 2026. KBC reported that her sample tested positive for methylprednisolone, a glucocorticoid prohibited in competition under the World Anti-Doping Agency's list. The AIU found violations relating both to the presence and use of the substance and to tampering with the doping-control process.

Aga attributed the positive result to treatment for a knee injury. However, the AIU said the clinic named on the prescription did not exist. According to its account, reported by the BBC, the person presented as the prescribing doctor was a member of her family who had no medical registration with the relevant authority.

When investigators questioned that person, the family member said an old prescription pad from a previous workplace had been used. The clinic identified as that workplace denied both that the individual had worked there and that the prescription belonged to it. KBC reported that the Ethiopian Anti-Doping Authority supported the AIU investigation, which established that the document was forged.

The tampering findings covered false information given during an interview with AIU representatives on April 21 and a forged or manipulated document submitted on May 4, according to KBC. The Associated Press reported that Aga subsequently failed to respond to the charges, so the six-year sanction was imposed without a hearing.

Aga, 32, won the Tokyo Marathon in 2019 and has also reached the podium in Berlin and New York, the Associated Press reported. BBC Sport said the ban runs from September 10, when her provisional suspension began. The additional tampering penalty accounts for four of the six years of her exclusion.