Jamaican authorities blamed for not finding drug cheats

Country’s anti-doping officials flawed in detecting substance abuse, says ex-director

SPOTLIGHT: Jamaican sprinters enjoyed unparalleled
 success at the London Olympics (PA)

NATIONAL ANTI-DOPING officials in Jamaica are
 failing in their duty to catch drug cheats, according to
 a former director of the country’s testing body.
Renee Anne Shirley, who resigned from her position
 at the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (Jadco),
claimed the organisation carried out only a single
out-of-competition doping test in five months before
 the London 2012 Games.
“When I took over, in mid-July, Jadco did not have
 a large enough staff in place to carry out rigorous
 anti-doping programmes”, she writes in Sports Illustrated.
“The Doping Control/Technical Services and the
 Education/Communications Units had only one
 junior staff member each, and the director positions
were vacant.”
Her views come after a string of Jamaican sprinters
have been tested positive for banned substances,
 including 100m performer Asafa Powell and athlete
 Sherone Simpson.
Shirley added: “The current programme while improved
 makes a mockery of Jamaica’s posturing and flames
 suspicion more than it douses it.
“Between the time the current board was appointed,
 in February 2012, and the start of the London Olympics
 late last July, out-of-date testing kits and limited staffing
 resources resulted in a total of one out-of-competition test.”
Commenting further about the positive test results of Powell
 and other high-profile track stars, the ex-Jadco director
 said: “And just like a hurricane, this disaster is one that
 I hoped would not visit Jamaica, even as I feared that it would.”
Shirley also claimed that her resignation in February stemmed
 from not being taken seriously about testing athletes.
“I could not get any member of the Jadco board or member
 of Jamaica’s Cabinet to take it seriously. They believe that
Jamaica does not have a problem”, she added.