Jamaica’s Sherone Simpson has left the MVP training camp, where she started her professional career and has trained for years under the guidance of Stephen Francis, for the state-of-the-art multi-sport complex at IMG Academy (International Marketing Group) in Bradenton, Florida. She will be conditioned by Loren Seagrave, well-known for his work with top-flight sprinters and professional athletes. He serves as the director of speed and movement at the Academy, and World 400m champion Lashawn Merritt of the US is currently under his guidance.
The 29-year-old Simpson, a three-time Olympian who won an individual silver medal at the 2008 Summer Games, relay gold and silver as a member of Jamaica’s 4x100m team at the Athens 2004 and London 2012 Olympics, respectively, tested positive positive for the stimulant oxilofrine at the Jamaica National Trials in June, which led to a fallout with MVP’s Coach Francis. Subsequently, Francis said he would not accept her back into his camp unless she severed ties with her manager Paul Doyle, whom he has blamed partly for Simpson’s problems. However, Doyle, who has managed Simpson for her entire professional career, continues to function in that capacity.
She is scheduled to face Jamaica Anti-Doping Disciplinary hearing in January to decide whether she will be punished.
According to a report in a Jamaican newspaper, Doyle cited the motive for Simpson’s move as “just a change she was looking to make.”
At IMG Academy, Simpson will now be part of a private athletic training outfit that attracts more than 12,000 athletes from scores of countries yearly and touts itself about having a program that applies a science-based training methodology to maximize effectiveness in all track & field events. The Academy has served as host to high-caliber athletes in other disciplines such as Maria Sharapova and Dwyane Wade.