Ambesse Tolosa (born 28 August 1977 in

Shewa Shewa ( am, ሸዋ; , om, Shawaa), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa (''Scioà'' in Italian), is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The modern Ethiopian capital A ...

) is an Ethiopian long-distance

runner Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

, who specializes in the

marathon race The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

. Tolosa tested positive for banned substances in February 2008 and received a two-year ban from competitive athletics. The substance that was present in his system (

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. T ...

) was not a

performance-enhancing drug Performance-enhancing substances, also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. A well-known example of cheating in sports involves doping in sport, where bann ...

and Tolosa said that he did not know how it had gotten into his body, but the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

rules stated that athletes received bans regardless of intent. His results from 9 December 2007 onwards were annulled,Biography Tolosa Ambesse

. Retrieved on 2009-11-07. which included his win at the

Honolulu Marathon The Honolulu Marathon (branded JAL Honolulu Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is a marathon (26.2 miles or 42.2km) in Honolulu, Hawaii, first held in 1973. It is one of the world's largest marathons, taking place annually on the second Sunday in ...

that year.

Achievements

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

References

External links

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolosa, Ambese 1977 births Living people Ethiopian male long-distance runners Ethiopian male marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Ethiopia Ethiopian sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in athletics Paris Marathon male winners 20th-century Ethiopian people 21st-century Ethiopian people