Jamaican Athletes Admit To Banned Substances

Four Jamaican athletes have admitted to taking a banned substance.

The four are Yohan Blake and Marvin Anderson, who train with triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt, as well as Allodin Fothergill and Lansford Spence.

Jamaican Anti-Doping Appeals Tribunal (Jadco) chairman Ransford Langrin said the athletes have admitted they took a banned substance.

He added that the minimum sanction is a reprimand or up to a two-year ban.

Relay runners Blake, Fothergill, Spence and Anderson as well as Sheri-Ann Brooks were withdrawn by Jamaica from the World Championships in Berlin last month.

They tested positive for methylxanthine at Jamaica’s championships in June, but were initially cleared by a disciplinary panel on the basis it was not on the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) banned list.

But Jadco then appealed against the verdict stating the substance had a similar structure to tuaminoheptane, a banned stimulant according to Wada.

Blake, who won bronze in the 100m at the world junior championships in 2006, is Olympic champion Bolt’s training partner and has recorded the fifth-fastest time over 100m this year.