07/26/12 Morgan Uceny, the Plymouth High School graduate who has qualified for the London Olympics might breath a little easier with Wednesday’s news that her fiercest competition, Morocco’s Mariem Alaoui Selsouli has been banned from the race.
Selsouli tested positive for a banned diuretic after she won the Paris Diamond League race on July 6th. Diuretics are used to mask the presence of illegal drugs that are screened for doping testing by concealing their presence in the urine sample. During the July 6th race Selsouli had set the world’s best tie this year at 3 minutes 56.15 seconds.
Uceny won the Diamond League last year and clocked the fastest time at the Brussels 1500 with a time of 4:00.06. Selsouli finished second in that race.
Selsouli was banned for 2 years in August 2009 for using the banned performance enhancing blood booster Erythropoietin.
Plymouth’s Morgan Uceny’s chance to win the gold medal in the 1,500 at the London Olympics has increased greatly with news. She will run August 6th in the prelims. The semifinals are on August 8th and the finals will be on August 10th. All three races will be shown on Channel 16 WNDU.
