NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Olympic and world 100 metres champion Shelly-Ann Fraser has been suspended for six months by the IAAF for a doping violation, the world governing body said yesterday.
Fraser tested positive for the pain-killer oxycodone at May’s Shanghai Diamond League meeting.
She will be eligible to compete again on Jan. 7, the IAAF said on its website (www.iaaf.org).
In July, Fraser told Reuters she had taken tooth painkiller before the event and neglected to list it on a doping form.
Fraser, a role model for Jamaican youth, said then she had mixed emotions about the positive test.
“I take some responsibility because athletes are supposed to be responsible for what they take,” she said. “But I am upset because everybody is starting to assume I am taking drugs … My reputation is ruined somewhat.”
Her coach, Stephen Francis, said in July he had hoped Fraser would receive only a warning.
“It is not a performance-enhancing substance nor a masking agent,” the coach said.
Fraser had not run since being provisionally suspended on July 8.
She won the Olympic gold at the 2008 Beijing Games and claimed the world title at Berlin in 2009.