Federation wants one-year ban for cross-country champ Bezabeh

Spain's Athletics Federation has proposed a 12-month suspension for Spanish-Ethiopian cross-country runner Alemayehu Bezabeh for his involvement in the Operation Greyhound doping investigation. The one-year, rather than the standard two-year ban, which was suggested by examining judge on the Federation's Competition Committee, Ana María Ros, acknowledges Bezabeh's cooperation and quick confession in the inquiry, which resulted in the arrest of 14 people late last year.

A Civil Guard raid in El Escorial, Madrid, on December 9 2010 caught then reigning European cross-country champion Bezabeh in the process of making a transfusion of his own blood from a bag extracted three weeks earlier. That same night, on the eve of defending his European title, Bezabeh went to Federation headquarters to declare that he thought the blood was meant for an analysis.

If the one-year ban is confirmed, it would mean Bezabeh, who has held a Spanish passport since July 2008, would miss next year's Olympic Games in London. For that reason he is considering appealing for a six-month ban.

The athlete admits he committed an error and must be punished, but pleads he wasn't conscious he was having a transfusion of his own blood, which in any case he never completed. What's more, unlike the International Association of Athletics Federations (the sport's global body), Spanish anti-doping law does not consider the attempt to dope an offense, he says.