Senior doping control officer Dr. Paul Wright is worried about the state of athletes in Jamaica recently: they’re all on drugs.
In a drug test conducted at the country’s national trials during this past June, a whopping five athletes in the track and field division alone tested positive for using performance enhancing drugs. Included among these five was Asafa Powell, former 100m world record holder. Olympic gold medalist Sherone Simpson also failed to pass tests at this screening.
“The results are not good. This year alone, the results really point the finger, Wright said. “This could be the tip of the iceberg,” in an interview with The Guardian.
BBC also reports that the Jamaican Minister of Sport Natalie Neita Headley has promised to pledge more money toward testing in an effort to cut back on the use of performance enhancing drugs, increasing the annual budget of over 380,000 pounds.
Heavy efforts are being made to reduce drug use in Jamaican athletics. Headley also said she was in the process of hiring two more drug testers. Jadco, the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission, is also slated to increase the number of annual tests from 300 to 400 in 2014.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
