The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has threatened that Jamaican athletes could be banned from all major events, including the Olympics, if the country is found to be non-compliant of its drug testing obligations. The warning came from WADA president John Fahey, who, in an interview to London’s Daily Telegraph, termed the Caribbean nation’s anti-doping programme as “farcical”.
“The current position is unacceptable to WADA and we’re not going to take it lying down, their suggestion that they’ll talk to us next year. To suggest (to WADA) that they’re not ready to meet with us to talk about their problem until sometime next year is unsatisfactory. It’s totally unacceptable to me and we shall act appropriately within an appropriate time frame,” Fahey told the paper.
While not directly indicating that Jamaica could face a ban from all major international competitions, he did throw enough hints at what those “appropriate measures” could mean. “There are a number of options. You can read into that exactly what those words are likely to mean, but I don’t want to flag it up,” was all Fahey would reveal.
If indeed WADA decides to act tough, star athletes like six-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt could be banned from competing on the world stage, including the 2016 Olympics in Rio. That would be sad because Bolt has never failed a drugs test yet, though some of his compatriots – including former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell – tested positive for banned stimulants earlier this year.
The allegations against Jamaica though are not without substance. Last week a former anti-doping chief of the Caribbean island, Renee Anne Shirley, claimed Jamaica has never carried out a single blood test, adding that the island’s anti-doping body (Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission) is so understaffed that it could conduct just one out-of-competition test in the six months leading up to last year’s London Olympics.
Even the blood-testing kits that were delivered to them by the WADA were never used, she claimed, with Jamaican athletes only subjected to urine tests. Human growth hormone (HGH) — a performance-enhancing substance for sprinters — can only be detected by blood testing.
A WADA team is slated to visit Jamaica this Monday for a special audit of its anti-doping measures. If it finds the allegations to be true, there could be no Bolt, no Yohan Blake, and no Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce on the track in the near future. That would be a sad day for athletics.