Jamaicans suspected of doping will not compete

AFP - The five Jamaican relay team members who tested positive during the national trials will not compete here at the world athletics championships, IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said on Wednesday.

Although the quintet would have been allowed to run at the championships because the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission's (JADCO) appeals panel was not going to hear the case till after the championships are over on Sunday, Davies said to his knowledge they would not be coming over from Jamaica.

IAAF secretary general Pierre Weiss had said on Tuesday that were they to run - regardless whether it was just a heat or the final - and they were to be found guilty by the appeals panel then the results would have to be altered.

However, Davies said that seemed an unlikely scenario now.

"Jamaica will not enter these athletes," said Davies.

"The news I have is that they will not be running. It's a decision strictly taken by the Jamaicans."

The Jamaican federation had told the IAAF last Friday that the appeals panel would sit last Monday and the decision would be reached in time for Tuesday so any punishment if necessary could be handed down.

However, they never sat on Monday and instead announced they could not hear tha appeal until after the championships. The IAAF's firm stance, however, that if they ran and were found to have transgressed it would cost them any medal they won appears to have forced the hand of the federation.

Women's 4x100m relay runner Sheri-Ann Brooks, Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson (both men's 4x100m relay), Lansford Spence and Allodin Fothergill (men's 4x400m) tested positive for the stimulant methylhexanamine at the end of June.

While Brooks was cleared because "of an irregularity in testing her B sample" the four others were absolved because of a disagreement over the exact status of methylhexanamine, which is not on the prohibited list.

After the athletes were cleared JADCO appealed this decision and sent the dossier to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and to the IAAF.

"We did not have any choice but to clear them because the substance does not appear on the banned products list of WADA," said Kent Gammon, president of the disciplinary commission of JADCO.