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November 11, 2010
Jamaican sprint coach reprimanded
By JAMES CHRISTIE
Globe and Mail Update
Olympic and world champion in the 100 metres tested positive for a banned pain killer
One of Jamaica's top sprint coaches has been reprimanded by his national association after an Olympic and world champion in the 100 metres tested positive for a banned pain killer.
Stephen Francis, who coaches sprint stars Shelly-Ann Fraser, former men's 100-metre record holder Asafa Powell, hurdler Brigitte Foster-Hylton and sprinter Nesta Carter, was chastised by the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association for the embarrassment caused after Fraser submitted a sample that tested positive for a banned drug following a Diamond League meeting in Shanghai in May.
Fraser, who was overshadowed in Beijing by record-setting countryman Usain Bolt, received a six-month suspension from the International Association of Athletics Federations for taking the drug Oxycodone to dull a toothache - apparently without the permission of her coach.
Because the suspension is not more than six months, she will not run afoul of an IOC ruling that costs athletes the following Olympic Games. Athletes will suspensions greater than six months are ineligible for the subsequent Olympics, even if they have served out the penalties doled out by their federations. The 23-year-old Fraser can return to competition from January 7.
Francis wrote a letter of apology for being derelict in his duty to both the IAAF and Jamaican federations.
"Following discussions out of this meeting as well as his written statement in which Mr. Francis apologized for his dereliction in the case and acknowledged the embarrassment he caused to the JAAA et al, Mr. Vincent Stephen Francis has been issued a strong reprimand by the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association and has been cautioned that any recurrence will lead to stronger sanctions," the JAAA said.
The JAAA did not say it would suspend Francis from coaching, only that his reprimand should serve as "a lesson to all who have the responsibility to guide our athletes."
Meanwhile, U.S. Olympic authorities are poised to fight for the Olympic eligibility for breast stroke swimmer Jessica Hardy and 400-metre runner LaShawn Merritt, who will have served out doping suspensions for more than six months by the time if the London 2012 Games but technically aren't allowed to compete.
A binding sports arbitration panel reduced the two-year doping suspension in Hardy's case after she argued that she had ingested the banned weight-loss and muscle-building drug clenbuterol by accident. It was discovered in an over-the-counter nutritional supplement she was taking, the New York Times reported.
But an IOC rule instituted just before the 2008 Games, stipulates ineligibility for the next Olympics for any athlete who has served a doping suspension longer than six months. The IOC will not hear athlete appeals until they have made the United States Olympic team, which could be just before London. There may be a logjam of cases at that time.
Merritt, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the 400 meters, tested positive in 2009 for a prohibited substance - a steroid - found in a male-enhancement product. His 21-month suspension - cut down because he wasn't using the banned drug to gain an edge on the track - ends next summer.
Jamaican sprint coach reprimanded
By JAMES CHRISTIE
Globe and Mail Update
Olympic and world champion in the 100 metres tested positive for a banned pain killer
One of Jamaica's top sprint coaches has been reprimanded by his national association after an Olympic and world champion in the 100 metres tested positive for a banned pain killer.
Stephen Francis, who coaches sprint stars Shelly-Ann Fraser, former men's 100-metre record holder Asafa Powell, hurdler Brigitte Foster-Hylton and sprinter Nesta Carter, was chastised by the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association for the embarrassment caused after Fraser submitted a sample that tested positive for a banned drug following a Diamond League meeting in Shanghai in May.
Fraser, who was overshadowed in Beijing by record-setting countryman Usain Bolt, received a six-month suspension from the International Association of Athletics Federations for taking the drug Oxycodone to dull a toothache - apparently without the permission of her coach.
Because the suspension is not more than six months, she will not run afoul of an IOC ruling that costs athletes the following Olympic Games. Athletes will suspensions greater than six months are ineligible for the subsequent Olympics, even if they have served out the penalties doled out by their federations. The 23-year-old Fraser can return to competition from January 7.
Francis wrote a letter of apology for being derelict in his duty to both the IAAF and Jamaican federations.
"Following discussions out of this meeting as well as his written statement in which Mr. Francis apologized for his dereliction in the case and acknowledged the embarrassment he caused to the JAAA et al, Mr. Vincent Stephen Francis has been issued a strong reprimand by the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association and has been cautioned that any recurrence will lead to stronger sanctions," the JAAA said.
The JAAA did not say it would suspend Francis from coaching, only that his reprimand should serve as "a lesson to all who have the responsibility to guide our athletes."
Meanwhile, U.S. Olympic authorities are poised to fight for the Olympic eligibility for breast stroke swimmer Jessica Hardy and 400-metre runner LaShawn Merritt, who will have served out doping suspensions for more than six months by the time if the London 2012 Games but technically aren't allowed to compete.
A binding sports arbitration panel reduced the two-year doping suspension in Hardy's case after she argued that she had ingested the banned weight-loss and muscle-building drug clenbuterol by accident. It was discovered in an over-the-counter nutritional supplement she was taking, the New York Times reported.
But an IOC rule instituted just before the 2008 Games, stipulates ineligibility for the next Olympics for any athlete who has served a doping suspension longer than six months. The IOC will not hear athlete appeals until they have made the United States Olympic team, which could be just before London. There may be a logjam of cases at that time.
Merritt, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the 400 meters, tested positive in 2009 for a prohibited substance - a steroid - found in a male-enhancement product. His 21-month suspension - cut down because he wasn't using the banned drug to gain an edge on the track - ends next summer.
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