KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Four Jamaican athletes that pleaded guilty to taking illegal substances were banned on Monday for three months and also received a reprimand effective immediately.
The four athletes – Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson, Allodin Fothergill, and Lanceford Spence – have been barred for competing until December 14 this year, and were punished for their use of the prohibited substance 4-Methyl-2-Hexanamine.
Dr. Patrece Charles-Freeman, executive director of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission, accepted Monday’s ruling.
“I think that the Appeals Tribunal had a sound understanding of the case and the matter at hand, and I personally feel that the sanction that was given was fair,” Charles-Freeman said.
She added: “JADCO will continue to look out for the athletes while continuing to uphold the rules and regulations.”
The decision will now be forward to the International Association of Athletics Federations and the World Anti-Doping Agency for ratification.
Samples of Blake, Anderson, Fothergill, and Spence taken at the national championships in June this year were found to contain the prohibited substance.
All were initially cleared of wrongdoing by the disciplinary panel of the JADCO because the substance was not on the World Anti-Doping Agency banned list.
But JADCO appealed the decision of the disciplinary panel, and indicated the drug in question had a similar chemical structure to the banned substance tuaminoheptane.
All four athletes were selected to represent Jamaica at the World Championships last month in Berlin, but did not take part, since the case was still pending.
The Appeals Tribunal also upheld a “not-guilty” verdict in favour of Sherri-Ann Brooks, whose urine sample taken at the national championships, was also found to contain an adverse analytical findings.
