Jamaica dissolves Anti-Doping Commission board

[Jangle]

Jamaica has dissolved the board of directors of its Anti-Doping Commission.

Fraser has positive test, pulls out of Lausanne »
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - Jamaica has dissolved the board of directors of its Anti-Doping Commission.

Jamaica Olympic Association President Mike Fennell said all 15 members were fired by the Caribbean nation's sports minister.

Fennell said Monday that the decision was part of a restructuring and was unrelated to a recent positive test for Olympic and world 100-meter champion Shelly-Ann Fraser.

Fennell was quoted by the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper as saying that the decision was based on a review by the World Anti-Doping Agency that raised concerns about conflicts of interest for panel members who also lead sports associations on the island.

[Sir X]

World Anti-Doping Agency that raised concerns about conflicts of interest for panel members who also lead sports associations on the island.


LOL ...the charge was ridiculous against SAF.......a MD note should have been sufficent to deal with this B.S!

[Jangle]

The timing of the dissolution can be questioned. How long before a new board is installed? Does SAF wait for a hearing or return to the circuit? A significant loss of earnings while she waits.

[Sickko]

Maybe you need to understand the rules first before making silly comments but then again there is only one Onandi Lowe

[Sir X]

Yuh figet yuh salary requirements...Joka or as you like to say brain damaged ! A man muss insecure bout im status in life fi level im salary requirements fi defend an arguement.

Yuh comprehend conflict of interest yet ?

[Willi]

Wada defends Jamaica's anti-doping record after Shelly-Ann Fraser test

• Scepticism over country's testing programme 'unfounded'
• Olympic champion Fraser admits taking banned painkiller

• Matt Scott and Anna Kessel
• The Guardian, Saturday 10 July 2010

Jamaica's 100m Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser has admitted taking a banned substance as a painkiller. Photograph: Kay Nietfeld/EPA David Howman, the World Anti-Doping Agency's director-general, last night spoke out in defence of Jamaica's drugs-testing regime after Shelly-Ann Fraser became the eighth athlete from the island to fall foul of doping regulations in 12 months.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian yesterday Howman said scepticism over the efficacy of the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission, that began around the 2008 Olympics, was unfounded. "We have worked very hard with Jamaica since Beijing," he said from Wada's Montreal offices. "We were alert to the comments and have offered our help. We've been there four or five times; most recently in May at the invitation of the Jamaican sports minister. We prepared a report about how their national anti-doping agency is progressing. In general it was a very positive report and there was nothing that made the agency non-compliant with the Wada Code.

"There were some suggestions for improvement around daily operational issues, such as sample collection, providing more out-of-competition tests and looking at potential conflicts of interest in several individuals who were closely involved in sports. And they are making strides in that direction."

The roots of the rumours about Jamaica's supposedly weak regulatory regime lie in Beijing, where Jamaican athletes scooped six gold medals in the sprint and hurdles events at the 2008 Olympic Games. At the time the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission was an under-funded organisation that did not match the standards required of those in athletics' other leading nations. Voices such as Carl Lewis and even Jamaica's own Usain Bolt, who stated 14 months ago that his homeland's anti-doping facilities were not up to scratch, cast doubt on the island's commitment to the fight against drugs in sport. However, Howman believes much has changed since.

Nor was he concerned that Jamaica has declined membership in the Caribbean's Regional Anti-Doping Organisation. "They decided they wanted their own national programme," he said. "This has been backed by the government, which passed a law and that is fine."

Fraser, as reigning Olympic and world 100m champion, is the highest-profile Jamaican athlete to test positive to date. Her positive test for Oxycodone, a synthetic opiate, has led to more speculation about Jamaican dominance of sprint disciplines. Yet, like others from the island recently to have tested positive, her case is deeply nuanced. Fraser does not deny she took the medication, which she had been given by her own coach, Stephen Francis, to alleviate severe toothache, and admits she was at fault. She says her crime was more clerical error than deliberate deceit and regrets omitting to report the drug on her doping-control form to the Diamond League meeting in Shanghai in May.

"I take some responsibility as athletes are supposed to be responsible for what they take," she has said. "But I am upset as everybody is starting to assume I am taking drugs. My reputation is ruined somewhat." That might not wash with Wada, although its zero-tolerance approach does not prevent athletes from treating ailments with the appropriate medication when they arise. Nick Davies,spokesman for the International Association of Athletics Federations, said they were "disappointed with her carelessness. Athletes must pay more attention to what they ingest as our rules are clear."

There will be a debate about whether Wada should be busying itself with cases such as Fraser's. Oxycodone is a painkiller akin to morphine, not widely acknowledged for making people run faster, nor does the Wada Code consider it a masking agent for other, more sinister substances. Asafa Powell, who has in the past called for drugs cheats to serve jail sentences rather than mere competition bans, has swung behind Fraser in this case.

"It's a lot different in Shelly's case as she didn't cheat," the Jamaican sprinter said. "She took some painkillers, [which] is something different. If it doesn't help you perform well, I don't think it should be on the list because, if it causes you to perform worse, it's your fault. It's complicated but if it's not something that helps you it shouldn't be on the list."

Howman conceded this is an area of the code that needs scrutiny. He said: "We have already revised the [2004] code, in 2007, and we conducted a review last year and will again in 2012. We're alert to the need to check that the laws are proper and acceptable. If there is an uprising against them, of course we will do something about it."

[Hortical]

One stupid decision by her handlers has created a firestorm.

[Willi]

The stupid decision was allowing her to run at all, not in the pain relief decision. Afterall, she was initially pulled and was reinstated when she asked to be put back in to support the Diamond League where she feels the obligation of being an Ambassador. Remember, Ambassadors are "pre-paid" and just need to run 7 out of 12 events to keep their full money.

I cant call it stupid to try a 4th painkiller when a person is double over in aginizing pain and the other 3 types did not work. Imagine an abcess growing in the gum after a long air travel in a farrin country with blinding pain!

I only ever had one earache in my life...about 5 years ago and the pain was like a tootache in my ear. I nearly drove me mad and I called like 10 doctors and took first appointment I could get!!!


Athletes are people first, just human beings subject to the same physical woes like the general population. When they are in extreme pain, they just want fast relief like the rest of us...consequences be damned at that moment.
Certain breed of pain