Issam Asinga

Early years Asinga was born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States in 2004. His parents are Tommy Asinga and Ngozi Mwanamwambwa who were both track and field athletes representing Suriname and Zambia respectively. Asinga mostly grew up in the United States with a four-year period between the ages of 9 and 13 living Lusaka, Zambia with his mother.

Career Asinga attended Montverde Academy where he was selected as the Gatorade Florida Boys Track & Field Player of the Year in 2023. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete on scholarship at Texas A&M University.

Asinga switched his international athletics country of representation from the United States to Suriname in May 2023.

Anti-doping rule violation In August 2023, Asinga was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit after testing positive for the banned substance GW1516. On May 27, 2024, he was officially banned for four years backdated to August 2023. All of his results since July 18, 2023 were disqualified including his World Under-20 record for the 100m that he set at the South American Championships. An appeal made to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was dismissed in October 2025.

Assinga sued Gatorade in 2024, alleging that the cardarine had entered his system via contaminated Gatorade Recovery Gummies provided to him by the company. In April 2025, a U.S. District Judge dismissed the case.

Personal bests Information from World Athletics profile.