Banned for Doping, Nijel Amos Forced to Sell Botswana's First Ever Olympic Medal

• Legendary 800m runner Nijel Amos has been forced into a corner following his three-year ban for doping
• The 29-year-old Botswana track star intends to sell the country's first-ever Summer Olympics medal
• He won it at the highly regarded 2012 London Olympic Games but now has financial considerations at the top of his mind

Banned runner Nijel Amos is looking to sell the Olympic silver medal he won in 2012, saying he plans to use the money to support his family.

He finished second in the 800m event behind the great David Rudisha at the London Games, making him the first Motswana to win an Olympic medal in any event.

Last week, the 29-year-old was handed a three-year ban for doping, though this ban was reduced from four years after he signed an admission.

BBC Sport Africa reported that Amos, still protesting his innocence, said during a press conference after the ban's confirmation:

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"It has been a financially draining process, the effort to clear my name and that of my beloved nation Botswana in the past daunting 11 months. At this time, my only investment or pension is the famous 2012 Olympic silver medal. I am in touch with different stakeholders, including financial advisors, on how that can sustain me and my family.

"I met with a team that wants to buy it with a value of 4.5m Botswana pula (300,000 US dollars), but with my documentary coming out on Netflix it could change the value to 7.5m. It is extremely difficult to survive as an athlete in Botswana where we are not given pension or any lump sum insurance payouts."

Amos, who also won Commonwealth gold at Glasgow Games in 2014, was first suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit in July 2022 after an out-of-competition test detected a banned metabolite in a urine sample. All of his results since 4 June 2022 have since been disqualified, with Amos saying that he felt his signed admission was the only course left available to him.

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