September 18 - Neville McCook, one of the Caribbean's most influential administrators, has criticised the Jamaica Anti-doping Commission's (JADCO's) handling of the recently concluded doping case involving five of the country's top athletes.


McCook, who is the President of the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC), believes the matter took too long to resolve and damaged Jamaica's reputation abroard.

He said: "Well, I'm glad that this is behind us now because the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) was extremely concerned that a matter which they think should be so simple was taking such a long time."

The five athletes who tested positive for prohibited drug 4-Methyl-2-Hexanamine, a stimulant, were all cleared by the anti-doping disciplinary panel but JADCO appealed.

An appeals tribunal, headed by Justice Ransford Langrin, heard the appeal and on Monday announced that Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson, Lansford Spence, and Allodin Fothergill reprimands and three-month bans.

They also upheld the decision to clear Shelly-Ann Brooks, the Commonwealth Games 100 metres champion, on a technicality.

But McCook, a member of the IAAF's ruling Council, has warned that the cases may not be over yet because the world governing body may want to review it, especially as the suspensions are due to run from September 14 to December 14 when the athletes would not have been competing anyway.

He said: "The athletes were in violation and there has to be a punishment.

"Whether the IAAF will accept this or not is something to be seen, but I'm sure that this will go a long way to at least soothe the ruffled features of the people [IAAF] in Monaco because they were very concerned that this thing was taking much too long to settle.

"It could be [the end of the matter].

"The only thing that I think might be of concern... was the length of time that it took the local authorities to bring it to an end and for this reason, they may want to increase the penalty.

"This is just my thinking because the rules are very clear and precise and the IAAF like things to be done in a clinical manner and this took much too long."


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September 2009: Jamaican athletes banned for three months
August 2009: Row in Jamaica over athletes cleared of doping
July 2009: Bolt victory overshadowed by drug revelations