Four Jamaican athletes given three-month bans

Kingston: Four of five Jamaican athletes hauled before a doping tribunal for using a banned stimulant were banned for three months on Monday.

The Jamaica Anti-Doping Appeals Tribunal banned Marvin Anderson, Lansford Spence, Yohan Blake and Allodin Fothergill following a hearing. The athletes last week admitted to using the prohibited drug methylxanthine."The appeal tribunal acted properly and the punishment is fair," Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission executive director Patrice Charles Freeman told reporters. The panel overturned a decision by the Anti-Doping`s disciplinary committee, which last month found the athletes not guilty, ruling they had violated Jamaican and IAAF doping laws. The fifth athlete, female sprinter Sherry-Ann Brooks, had previously been cleared, following a breach in the testing procedure of her urine samples. All five had been named to represent Jamaica at last month`s world championships in Berlin but officials declined to allow them to participate while the case was ongoing. The tests were conducted during Jamaica`s national athletic championship in June. Bureau Report