WADA warns Jamaica to address doping failings

Melbourne: Jamaica has reportedly been warned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that it risked expulsion from major competitions if it failed to address failings pointed out by a former senior employee.

According to The Age, the former executive director of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) Renee Anne Shirley had accused Jamaican politicians and administrators of ignoring her warnings that the positive tests returned by Asafa Powell and four other athletes were a `disaster waiting to happen`. Urging the Jamaican government to investigate Shirley`s claims that JADCO`s drugs-testing program was completely inadequate, WADA director-general David Howman warned that if the country refused to take its responsibilities seriously, it could have dire consequences for the country`s elite athletes, including star sprinter Usain Bolt. Howman also said that normally if they have issues falling into the category of either complaint or concern, they try to work with the particular signatory, in this case JADCO, adding that if nothing happens, then they can declare any of the signatories non-compliant, risking their participation in international events. Howman further said that they then report the non-compliance to higher bodies like the International Olympic Committee, the International Association of Athletics Federations and others. Shirley went public with her concerns this week in an US sports magazine, in which she also revealed that JADCO had conducted just one out-of-competition test in the five months before London 2012, although Howman admitted that WADA had also been aware of the fact. Shirley quit JADCO in February over her concerns, which she claimed were justified by June`s positive tests for Powell and others, the report added. ANI