Five Vietnamese athletes who failed doping tests have been officially stripped of their nine medals, including five golds, won at the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held in Vietnam in May last year, and have received a ban from all competitions for 16-18 months, as per the disciplinary decisions sent to the Vietnam Athletics Federation on Tuesday evening.

These athletes, all in track and field, are Quach Thi Lan, Khuat Phuong Anh, Vu Thi Ngoc Ha, Hoang Thi Ngoc, and Le Ngoc Phuc.

Lan faced the revocation of her 400-meter hurdles gold medal, 4x400 meter relay gold medal, and women’s 400-meter bronze medal, along with an 18-month ban from competitions, in place from May 17, 2022, until November 17, 2023.

Anh, who secured a gold medal in the women’s 800-meter race and a silver medal in the women’s 1,500-meter category, along with Ngoc, who won a gold medal in the women’s 4x400 meter relay, both faced an additional 18-month ban from competitions from May 16, 2022 to November 16, 2023 and from May 18, 2022 to November 18, 2023, respectively.

Ha, who clinched the gold medal in long jump, and Phuc, the silver medalist in the men’s 4x400 meter relay, were both handed a 16-month suspension from competitions from May 16, 2022 to September 16, 2023 and from May 15, 2022 to September 15, 2023, respectively.

Anh, Ngoc, Ha, and Phuc also had their medals achieved at the 31st SEA Games forfeited.

In their reports to sport authorities, the five Vietnamese athletes explained that they had used a type of supplement without knowing it contained banned substances.

Prior to the announcement of the positive doping cases, Vietnam had eliminated these five from a list of athletes eligible to compete at the 2022 National Sports Games and the 32nd SEA Games, which took place in Cambodia from May 5 to 17.

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