OTC runner Nijel Amos suspended ahead of World Track and Field Championship

KLCC | By Brian Bull

Published July 13, 2022 at 3:32 PM PDT

A star runner who trains with the Oregon Track Club Elite in Eugene has been suspended for a positive drug test.

Nijel Amos of Botswana tested positive for a banned substance the Athletics Integrity Unit describes as a “metabolic modulator.” The drug modifies how the body metabolizes fat and is not approved for human use.

Amos was entered in the 800 meters at the upcoming World Track and Field Championships here in Eugene. His suspension was announced barely a week before the first heats of that event.

In 2012, he won an Olympic silver medal, the first for his native country.

A request for comment from the Oregon Track Club Elite has not been responded to.

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Brian Bull

Brian Bull is a contributing freelance reporter with the KLCC News department, who first began working with the station in 2016. He's a senior reporter with the Native American media organization Buffalo's Fire, and was recently a journalism professor at the University of Oregon.

In his nearly 30 years working as a public media journalist, Bull has worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional), the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.

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