Jama Aden, coach of the women’s 1500 metres world record holder Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia, has reportedly been arrested by Spanish police as part of an anti-doping operation in Barcelona.
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A physiotherapist from Morocco was also detained in the raid on Monday and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) drug tested 30 athletes who were guests at the hotel in Sabadell, according to the Associated Press.
Two members of the Spanish Anti-Doping Agency later confirmed to the Guardian that El País’s story was correct.
Police said Aden and his trainer were arrested on charges of administering and distributing doping substances and endangering public health.
Hamza Driouch, a Qatari middle-distance runner and 2012 world junior 1500-meter champion, who was suspended from competition for two years in February 2015 due to irregularities in his biological passport, also trained under Aden’s guidance.
A spokesman for British Athletics told the Guardian that Aden had helped Farah for only one week last year, when the performance director, Neil Black, and the head of endurance, Barry Fudge, were not around, and they had changed their rules when Farah went to Ethiopia this year.
One of the favourites for gold at the Rio Olympics, the 25-year-old Dibaba is the current world indoor and outdoor record-holder for 1500m, and the reigning world champion for outdoor 1500m and indoor 3,000m.
Genzebe Dibaba after breaking the world indoor mile record at the Globen Galan in Stockholm.
He also used to coach the reigning men’s 1500m world champion Taouifk Makhloufi.
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Farah’s agent was past year forced to deny that the athlete had trained with Driouch after the Briton published a photo on social media appearing to show him running with the banned drugs cheat.
