CHAIRMAN: DR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: DR. KHALID MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

Sports / Athletics

WADA slams Jamaican dope testing

Published: 16 Oct 2013 - 05:03 am | Last Updated: 29 Jan 2022 - 10:10 am

LAUSANNE: The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has again expressed its unhappiness at the way Jamaica’s anti-doping programme has responded to the five positive tests among Jamaican athletes.

WADA in August had said it was standing by to help Jamaica resolve their doping scandal problems in the wake of the doping of Asafa Powell.

The global doping agency had then called for urgent action on the concerns raised by former Jamaica anti-doping chief Renee Anne Shirley over flaws in the country’s drug testing program.

Two months on WADA claimed: “Since then, WADA has accepted an invitation from the Prime Minister of Jamaica to visit and inspect JADCO (Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission).

“WADA was unhappy to learn that JADCO cannot accommodate this visit until 2014.”

In August, WADA had warned Jamaica that if they did not take steps to put their testing programme in order it would report back to the WADA Foundation Board where a signatory can be declared non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code.

That could trigger Jamaica and consequently Usain Bolt’s exclusion from the Olympics.

JADCO has defended itself against accusations that it wasn’t doing its job properly by pointing out it was they who had originally unearthed the five positive tests in the run up to the Moscow world championships. AFP