Aissa's 3-year Ban (2006-2009)

I (Steve Bence) am writing this post on behalf of Aissa.  I met Aissa in 2010.

Aissa was issued a 3 year ban from competition (Dec 28, 2006 - Dec 27, 2009).  Aissa maintains that he has never used PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) and I believe him.  Importantly, Aissa has never tested positive for PEDs.  Aissa's ban had to do with the improper reporting of a doctor's treatment for a chronic leg injury.

A local Oregon doctor wrote:

As I recall the case the doctor failed to provide a TUE, therapeutic use exemption. This form is available through WADA, the world anti-doping agency, but most prescribing doctors do not even realize the form exists. Had this been performed it would not have been an issue. 

Physicians, even world-renowned ones, have a tendency to proceed with treatment without a full explanation to an athlete.

Personally I would recommend a letter or press release statement from Aissa describing what transpired and how it has cost him. At least that way he will have full communication out there and hopefully the sympathy and understanding of the race directors. I would recommend something no more than 2/3 to 3/4 of the page with bullet points that could be sent both by mail and email.

Road race directors can be a tight community. Most are on the same Yahoo email group or blog page. The current reaction is surprising to me.

A sports writer is considering an article about Aissa.  He wrote:

Aissa is a fantastic story. Fascinating on a bunch of levels: Aissa's merits, his innocence, and the larger ethical idea of when it is right to accept, forgive and help a struggling talent. 

Hicham el Guerrouj, the Moroccan world record holder in the mile, is supportive of Aissa's character and made a request for all of us to understand and help Aissa.  In an email to me, Hicham wrote:

Steve: I want to discuss with you the situation of a local Moroccan runner living in the Portland, Oregon area.  I think you met him.  His name is Aissa Dghoughi.

Aissa went through some challenges and issues in the past and he matured a lot.  He is serious and working hard to be a successful runner. I believe he deserves a chance and he will not be a disappointment.  I would appreciate if you can give him support so he can continue his training.  Aissa is progressing very well.

Aissa's story ...

I asked Aissa about his background and this is what I understand.

Aissa is from the town of Azrou, Morocco. It is a small town and his parents don’t own much. The altitude is 6,600 feet. Hicham El Guerrouj, the current world record holder in the mile, trained near Aissa's hometown for his altitude training. Hicham is from Berkane, Morocco.

Aissa showed promise as a young runner.  He was selected to go to the national training center which is located in Casablanca in 1996.  Aissa was born Dec 10, 1981 so he would have been 14 years old.

It was a sacrifice for Aissa’s family.  It cost the family money for him to move and they lost their 14-year old son to national training & competition.  But they were very proud.  This all happened before Hicham set the world record for the mile.  Aissa talks about training with Hicham in Morocco and racing against Mo Farrah.

In 1999, Aissa was 20^th at the Junior World Cross Country Championship in Belfast (17 years old) and 8^th in the 2000 Junior World Championships in Chile (14:07 at 18 years old).  Aissa was making steady improvement.  He ran his PR for 5000 meters when he was 19 years old in 2001 (13:20.93).

I think about 2002, 20 years old, is when Aissa had a serious leg injury.  He was sent home to Azrou.  That is when Aissa learned that if he ran well, he was well taken care of.  But as soon as he struggled he was discarded.  He was embarrassed to be sent home.  The national training center didn't have a school so he missed 6 years of education.  Aissa was determined to heal and return to running.  Once recovered and based on personal experience, he wanted to avoid dependence on the Morocco national team.

Aissa moved to France.  France and Morocco have a country relationship where Aissa would be able to run as a French national.  On his own he trained and arranged his own racing schedule.  He competed for money and sent much of it to his family in Morocco.  Aissa was running at a peak in 2006.  In January 2006 he ran a PR for 10k in 28:24 and in March he ran a 1:01:27 half marathon in Paris.  He was asked to run on the Morocco national team for the April 2nd, 2006 World Cross Country championships where he proudly placed 20^th.

A little later in 2006 Aissa’s injury returned.  He didn’t have access to trainers nor doctors and very little money.  He looked for help and found a doctor working with other athletes.  He was given medication to treat his injury.  An Oregon doctor recently reviewed his treatment and determined it to be proper and legal with a doctor’s prescription and TUE (Therapeutic Use Exemption).  But Aissa didn’t receive a prescription nor did the doctor issue a TUE.  During this time Aissa was approached for a random drug test and panicked.  He didn't show for the test.

To complicate matters, a year earlier in January 2005, Aissa’s wife asked him to drive from Fance to Spain to pick up some medication for her.  During a routine check at the Spain/France border, Aissa was found to have EPO in his possession.  According to Aissa, he didn’t know what he had and made no effort to conceal it.  He said it was on the passenger seat of his car in full view and he dutifully presented the package to inspectors when instructed.  He explained that it wasn’t for him, rather for his wife, which led to understandable marital tension and a divorce.  His wife, Moroccan-born turned French citizen, middle distance runner tested positive in July 2006 for EPO.  She had just broken the French 1500m record in 3:59. She was banned for 2 years and stripped of her time.  Aissa thinks this vindicated him proving that it was his wife cheating rather than himself.  His former wife served her 2-year ban and returned to competition.

Also Aissa started to learn how difficult it was for him to run in France.  If he won prize money, he’d get about a third as much as a French citizen would get.  He felt poorly treated and described himself as a second-class citizen.  He found that as he started to threaten the top French runners with his improving times, they would shun him.

After failing to show for the 2006 random drug test, Aissa ran 27:24 in Brussels (Aug 25, 2006).  He met with a branded foootwear company who offered him product and potential support dependent upon hitting certain goals.  Aissa wanted to run the Boston marathon and thought it would be a springboard to his future.  Aissa came to the northwest to prepare for Boston and then discovered he was banned for 3 years and stripped of his 27:24 time.  Aissa didn't have the resources to challenge the ban.

Aissa decided he didn’t want to go back to Morocco nor France so he settled in Vancouver, Washington.  He worked to earn a living and remarried.  When his 3-year ban was over, his wife didn’t understand nor support his desire to return to professional running.  He worked at a restaurant and worked up to 12 hours at a time.  He gained weight and found it difficult to train.  He is now divorced from his second wife and regained his focus on running.

Aissa’s 3-year ban ended in December 2009.

In 2010 a fellow Nike employee asked me to meet with Aissa.  I expected to meet a high school middle-distance runner who needed some encouragement.  Instead I quickly discovered that Aissa was a world-class distance runner from Morocco.  I explained that I couldn't help him.  He was beyond my ability to coach.  But Aissa insisted that he didn’t need my help with his training and racing because he could coach himself.  The help he needed was to navigate within the United States.  I told him that I'd think about it.

As I was thinking through the options, Hicham El Geurrouj and his family invited my wife and I to a local Moroccan restaurant.  Hicham vouched for Aissa's character and asked me to help.  I agreed to do what I could.

As Aissa returned to his training, his old injury started to bother him.  I found a local sports doctor who agreed to help Aissa at a reduced rate.

Bob Williams then agreed to help coach Aissa.  A "Team Aissa" was starting to form.

Others agreed to help as well but as some learned of Aissa's ban, they pulled their support.  I understood.

Aissa picked the 2011 Portland Shamrock Run as his debut race after sitting out his ban.  He won by almost 2 minutes.

Aissa leading from the start of the 2011 Portland Shamrock Run

Aissa had his own plans for training.  Although Bob has never coached an African runner of Aissa’s caliber, Bob felt that Aissa was over-training and over-racing without a long-term plan.  After a few successful races, Aissa broke down once again and couldn’t train properly because of the pain.  We helped him find the right help to recover.  Aissa lost months of training.

Aissa returned to racing in 2012.  For financial reasons, he looked for races with prize money and once again Bob thought that Aissa was bouncing around too much and unfocused.  It caught up physically with Aissa again.  Aissa won prize money but not enough to cover his expenses.

During this time I discovered that some people worked to block Aissa from competing believing that a 3-year ban should be a lifetime ban.

An example was at the 2012 Bix 7 race in Davenport, Iowa.  Aissa asked to be invited as an elite athlete which would have meant that his travel expenses would be arranged and paid.  For weeks, the Elite Athlete Coordinator said that Aissa was on the waiting list.  It became apparent that Aissa's 2006-2009 ban was an issue but it wasn't communicated to us.  As the race date neared, the Elite Race Coordinator said that Aissa wouldn’t be invited.  Days before the race, Aissa decided to pay his own way to Iowa and the last minute airfare was higher than if he planned ahead,  Aissa thought that he could finish in the top 3 or 4, but ran poorly because of the travel and logistics that he had to figure out on his own.  Even so, Aissa finished 9^th and earned $600 prize money.  Instead of being supportive, the Elite Athlete Coordinator was livid that Aissa finished in the top 10 and emailed to me:

“You showed no respect for the race, the athletes in the race, and those on the wait list by your actions. We will close the loophole you decided to use this year in the future.  Please don't contact me in the future about any of your athletes, I don't work with people who try to manipulate the system.”
            

For the 2013 Bix 7 race, the Elite Athlete Coordinator emailed that Aissa was not welcomed to run.  He said that he “closed the loophole” so that even if Aissa traveled on his own and finished in the top 10, he wouldn’t get paid.  Only invited athletes were eligible for prize money.

There are other examples from meet officials not wanting Aissa to run.

“I think the honest and underlying issue with Aissa is he’s been tainted with a drug offense and suspended for 3 years. I, like other coordinators, obviously take this into consideration and are more likely to give another athlete a chance ahead of him.”

And more overtly:

“We have been welcoming people of different race, religion and gender since the day we first fired the gun 41 years ago.  With open arms.  If we want to hold athletes to a higher standard, I don't think there is anything wrong with that.  Am I in favor of being black-listed for life?  No. But let’s just say that if our governing bodies chose to adopt such draconian rules, I wouldn’t fight it.”

Aissa had a good first half to 2014.  He ran his second marathon ever in January 2014 in PR of 2:13:35.  A sub 2:10 marathon is within his ability.  Other 2014 highlights included a 5th place finish at Bay to Breakers and a 1:02:12 finish at the 6/1/14 San Diego half marathon.

Aissa injured himself at the 2014 San Diego half marathon and had to stop racing for almost one year.  He has recovered and training well again.  His plan is to start racing again in May 2015 with the goal of qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Trials in the marathon.