And DeepL translation:
The double Olympic participant from Slagelse, Abdi Ulad, is done with all competitive running for at least the next two years.
The 31-year-old marathon runner from West Zealand with Somali roots has been caught in a doping test and can look forward to a harsh sentence of at least a two year ban. This means he will not be attending his third Olympic Games in a row when they take place in Paris in 2024.
Abdi Ulad, who was named Zealand's Champion of the Year in 2020 as the best local sports figure in South and West Zealand, was visited by the doping control at his home address in September and tested positive on a urine test.
A doping conviction is normally two years' quarantine, but in Abdi Ulad's case it may be even harsher given some special circumstances. He writes a long explanation and apology on his Facebook page, in which he also says that he took pills containing the drug trimetazidine.
Abdi Ulad has competed in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, finishing 35th and 23rd respectively. He has also competed at both the European and World Championships.
Read Ulad's full statement here:
"Sorry!
The recent period in my life has been very heavy. I have been under pressure that I have not been able to handle. I was too scared to ask for help and was desperate for a solution. A solution where I could regain the energy to sense a tiny hope, the energy to feel myself and my identity as Abdi the runner again.
I was right there, where my desperation was stronger than my values, and I made the worst decision of my life. I swallowed a pill containing the drug trimetazidine, which is on the doping list - not to get better, but to get better.
Hours after taking the pill, my mind went blank and I realised what a terrible situation I had put myself in. I was whirled into a contradictory mindset of turning myself in, of letting my loved ones know, but I ended up slipping into an apathetic state where I was unable to do anything but was just desperately struggling to keep up the façade so no one noticed how far gone I was.
Two days later there was an early morning knock on the door. Anti Doping Denmark had come to carry out a routine check. And here I was faced with one of the most important decisions of my life. Either I had to tell my wife to go down and open the door and tell her I wasn't home. That way I would get a warning for not adhering to my where-abouts, and then the world would probably never find out that I had had a banned substance in my body.
I could also choose to go down and open the door myself, invite Anti Doping Denmark in, and get tested.
I chose the latter, because when it knocked on my door, it was my salvation and a help that was let in.
Anti Doping Denmark contacted me after the analysis of the A sample, where they could tell that they had found traces of trimetazidine in my urine and that I was temporarily banned from all training and competition. Right then, my life fell apart for good.
I have admitted what I have done to Anti Doping Denmark and have not requested an analysis of the B sample. Whatever my motive and however brief my contact with a banned substance, I have broken the law and I will take the punishment that the Doping Board gives me.
It is important for me to say that I never took the pill to win a race, to cheat or to lie to anyone. I took the pill because I was so far out that I couldn't handle the situation by myself anymore. I don't blame anyone around me for not being able to see it coming, because if anyone should be able to tell how far out of it I really was, it's me. No one, not my wife, coach, sports director, club or athletics federation knew anything, I have gone alone with both thoughts and actions.
I am eternally grateful for the support I have experienced in my years as an athlete, but right now it is not important to me when or if I will run again. The most important thing is to get professional help so I can be free of the gloomy thoughts that fill my head. I want to be a good husband to my wife and a good father to our son.
In the same vein, I would encourage anyone who is struggling and feels they are in an unmanageable situation to talk to someone about it. Even if it is difficult. I wish I had done that so I could have gotten help before it was too late.
