Thursday, August 20, 2009

Quintet set to stay at home


The five Jamaican athletes who were recently cleared of testing positive for the stimulant methylhexanamine at their national trials in July will not compete at the World Championships.

Sheri-Ann Brooks, Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson, Lansford Spence and Allodin Fothergill were among runners named in the country's 4x100metres relay and 4x400m relay squads scheduled to compete in Berlin later this week.

But Nick Davies, the International Association of Athletics Federations communications director, said tonight they will not travel from their homeland to participate.

"We now know the Jamaicans will not enter these athletes," Davies said, revealing they had been informed of their withdrawal by the Jamaica's team management.

The sprinters should have had an appeal against their clearances lodged by Jamaica's Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) heard earlier this week after the original panel said it had no option to clear them because methylhexanamine does not appear on the banned products list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

JADCO disagreed claiming methylxanthine contains a similar structure to tuaminoheptane which is listed as a stimulant in the World Anti-Doping Agency list.

Pierre Weiss, IAAF general secretary, was frustrated the appeal had not taken place yesterday and said: "They are not suspended, they would be allowed to compete but the situation can change day by day."

But Weiss stressed that if they do take part and are subsequently found guilty after the championships finish, Jamaica who are among the favourites to win medals in all four relays, will almost certainly be disqualified.

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