BERLIN, (Reuters) – Five Jamaican track and field athletes expected to run in the 4×100 and 4×400 metres relays at the world championships have been pulled off the team, the IAAF said yesterday.
Sprinters Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson and Sheri-Ann Brooks as well as Allodin Fothergill and Lansford Spence had tested positive for the stimulant methylxanthine but were allowed to race by the IAAF pending an appeal.“Jamaica will not enter these athletes,” International Association of Athletics Federations spokesman Nick Davies told reporters. “The news I have is that they will not be running,” he said.
Asked whether it was a Jamaican decision to remove them from the relay teams, Davies said: “Yes”.
The athletes were initially cleared by the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission’s (JADCO) disciplinary committee.
However, JADCO itself then appealed the verdict saying the substance had a similar structure to tuaminoheptane, a banned stimulant according to the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Jamaica had said a final ruling on the matter would be taken after the Aug. 15-23 worlds, prompting the IAAF to allow them to run as they had been cleared even though the appeal was pending.
The world athletics ruling body warned, though, that if Jamaica subsequently banned the athletes for doping, their results in the relays and any medals won would be taken away.
That would be a potential source of embarrassment for Jamaican athletics, which has already seen sprinters Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser win gold in the men’s and women’s 100 metres blue riband events.
The relay competitions start tomorrow.
