Jamaican Olympic sprinter Sherone Simpson was given an 18-month suspension today for testing positive for a banned stimulant at the Jamaica National Trials in June 2013.
In announcing the verdict, Lennox Gayle, a member of the Jamaica Anti-doping Disciplinary Commission (JADCO), said “Miss Simpson has admitted the anti-doping violation and … now having listened and reviewed all the evidence and listened to the detailed submissions of councils, this panel is unanimously of the view that Ms. Simpson was negligent in all the circumstances as an elite athlete and as such, the period of ineligibility will be 18 months.”
Simpson, the 29-year-old the 2004 Olympic 4x100m relay gold medalist, told a hearing in January that a supplement provided by her Canadian trainer was responsible for her positive test.
She also said she was not familiar with one of the five supplements given to her but nothing on the bottle of Epiphany D1 appeared during her online search of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list.
Simpson was one of five Jamaican athletes who tested positive at the Championships. She and former world 100m record holder Asafa Powell returned adverse findings for the banned substance oxilofrine. Powell will hear his verdict on Thursday.
Discus Thrower Gets 2 Years
Allison Randall, an American-based Olympic discus thrower, was suspended for two years. She, too, failed a drug test during the 2013 National Trials.
Randall, 25, who holds the Jamaican discus record at 61.21m, tested positive for the banned diuretic hydro-chlorothiazide, which is said to reduce blood volume.
Both Simpson’s and Randall’s bans have been backdated to June 21, 2013, when they provided the samples.
Simpson’s Camp to Appeal
In reacting to the news of the suspension, Simpson’s manager Paul Doyle issued a press release that the camp would appeal the ruling to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) immediately.
“The panel has given no written explanation as to how or why they came to this decision,” the release said, noting that “we feel that this ruling is incredibly unjust and we will be appealing to the Court of Arbitration of Sport immediately.”
The release continued: “The case in our opinion should be very straight forward. Sherone took a legal supplement that was contaminated with Oxilofrine. Two different labs that we commissioned to test the supplement both determined that Oxilofrine was present and that it was not declared on the label.
“Additionally, on our advice, USADA ordered the supplement directly from the company and tested it themselves and confirmed the same. Subsequently, USADA has posted a warning on