Dark days loom for Jamaica’s track and field

Photo: President of the Jamaica Olympic Association Mike Fennell

Jamaica’s track and field looks set to be thrown into a tailspin, after it was finally revealed that a senior athlete, who was a member of the team to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 has tested positive for a banned substance.

For the past few weeks there has been speculation that something was amiss and now the story has come to light.

The ‘A’ sample of the athlete, who is yet to be named, returned adverse findings after retesting was done. The athlete is among 31 individuals globally, who have had adverse findings after the retests.

The results of the testing of the ‘B’ sample are expected to be revealed shortly and the implications for the national programme are set to be extreme.

Since Beijing, Jamaica has built up a reputation of being the sprint capital of the world and now everything that has been achieved since then, will be put under the microscope.

It is being suggested that the nation will lose at least one medal should the ‘B’ sample also come back positive, while speculation is rife that it may be more than just one medal that Jamaica will lose.

The Jamaica Olympic Association is yet to offer a statement on the situation via a press release or otherwise, despite being notified of the situation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since last week.