2 min readOlympic medalist Luguelín Santos has been banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for three years for lying about his age at the World Junior Championships in 2012, according to a report from the AIU.
Santos, 31, represents the Dominican Republic and won a gold medal in the 400 meters at the 2012 London Olympics. He admitted to listing his date of birth as November 12, 1993, when he was actually born on November 12, 1992, according to the AIU. That made him ineligible to compete at the World Junior Championships in 2012, which required athletes to be 18 or 19 on December 31 of the competition year.
Santos has been banned from competition from March 11, 2023 through March 10, 2026. The AIU sought a four-year ban but it was reduced by a year because Santos admitted to the charges, according to the AIU.
The 400-meter runner was stripped of his gold medal from the Junior competition but not of his silver medal from the 2012 Olympics.
“Unlike with sanctions for doping violations, there was no 2012 rule that provided for the disqualification of future results in age-eligibility cases, so there is no basis on which to annul his Olympic result as that was not an age-group event and no violation was committed there,” Brett Clothier of the AIU said in a statement.
According to the AIU, Santos used 1993 as his birth year from 2010 to 2017, but in February 2018 he declared it was 1992, based on a passport issued in 2018, but he continued using the 1992 birth year for competition.
The AIU flagged the discrepancy, and when it confronted Santos, he told the organization that, “on instructions, he had obtained a ‘special passport’ issued by the Dominican authorities, which gave his date of birth as being November 12, 1993.” He also told the AIU that he was told to use the “special passport” for competitions but his genuine passport, which had 1992 as his birth year, for all other official purposes.
Officials have not yet said if American Arman Hall, who earned a silver medal behind Santos, will be upgraded to champion, according to NBC Sports.
Heather is the former food and nutrition editor for Runner’s World, the author of The Runner’s World Vegetarian Cookbook, and a nine-time marathoner with a best of 3:23. She’s also proud of her 19:40 5K and 5:33 mile. Heather is an RRCA certified run coach.
