KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCo) has strongly dismissed a claim by International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound who stated that it is difficult to test Jamaican athletes because they are hard find.
Following a marathon meeting of the board of JADCo on Monday, Chairman Professor Winston Davidson described Pound’s claims, as “a vicious attack on a small country”.
“What Mr (Dick) Pound said was blatantly false. We knew it was spurious, but we spent the whole day trying to find evidence of it … we don’t think they would do this to America and other bigger countries. It is a vicious attack on a small country,” Davidson said.
On Saturday, Pound, who is also a former chief of the World Anti-Doping Committee, told Reuters Television that Jamaican athletes belong to “one of the groups that are hard to test”.
“It is hard to get in and find them, and so forth,” Pound was quoted as saying.
In a release late Monday, JADCo said it has never received any complaints regarding the athletes not being found for testing.
“This is confirmed by the fact that the WADA database (Anti-Doping Administration and Management System – ADAMS) holding such information of all tests and missed tests does not confirm his allegation,” the commission said. “In addition, JADCo has never received any complaints regarding the athletes not being found for testing.”
JADCo was also concerned after former American sprinter Carl Lewis questioned Jamaica’s testing system, following Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce’s successful defence of their 100 metres titles .
Jamaica’s athletes dominated the sprint events for the second successive Olympic Games.
