The Athletics Integrity Unit has banned Ethiopian 1500m runner Mosisa Siyoum for eight years after finding him guilty of using EPO and of tampering with the doping-control process. The AIU announced the decision on 29 October. The ban runs from his provisional suspension on 5 May 2026 and is made up of four years for the presence and use of a prohibited substance and four years for tampering, which under World Athletics rules runs after the doping sanction rather than alongside it.
Siyoum had been provisionally suspended in May after an adverse analytical finding for erythropoietin. He had run a 1500m indoor personal best of 3:34.28 at the Orlen Copernicus Cup in Toruń, Poland, on 22 February. That mark is now annulled, along with all of his results since 13 December 2025 and any prize money and appearance fees earned in that period.
The tampering charge is what doubled the sanction. According to reporting on the decision, Siyoum said he had collapsed, been told at a health centre in Ethiopia that he was anaemic and been given an injection, and he submitted an admission report, blood test and prescription listing EPO. The AIU found that the provider’s name did not match the signature on the paperwork and that the health centre confirmed he had not attended on the date stated, meaning the documents were false.
He did not contest the case. The AIU charged him on 1 October and gave him until 8 October to request a hearing or admit the violations; having not responded, he is treated as having admitted them. Siyoum, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Ethiopian Anti-Doping Authority can still appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The case is a reminder of how heavily the rules now weigh falsified evidence. A standard first EPO offence carries four years, and the eight-year total shows that attempting to explain a positive test with fabricated records is treated as a separate and equally serious violation. The announcement came alongside other AIU sanctions, including a five-year ban for Uzbekistan’s Doston Rajabov and four-month suspensions for two Ethiopians who admitted corticosteroid violations.