Spencer walks free, JADCO set to pay

Photo: Kaliese Spencer was found not guilty of violation of article 2.3 in the JADCO rules by a three member Independent Anti-Doping Disciplinary Commission on Tuesday.

Kaliese Spencer was all smiles on Tuesday when the verdict was handed down in her anti-doping case. A three member Independent Anti-Doping Disciplinary Commission came to a unanimous decision of not guilty in regards to her alleged violation of article 2.3 in the JADCO rules.

The chairman of the Commission, Kent Gammon was clear in how the verdict was arrived at.

“We were not persuaded, based on the evidence presented that the athlete, Ms Spencer had committed a breach of Article 2.3 in particular of the JADCO rules. The deciding factor was the equivocation that the athlete was properly notified as to the anti-doping violation and the non-compliance with article 5.0 of the international standards testing of WADA.”

Spencer’s lawyer, Paul Greene was scathing in his remarks and suggested that JADCO had seriously erred in bringing a case against his client.

“I think it is absolutely ridiculous that they brought the case, nothing personal to those guys but my client’s life was at stake because of what they (JADCO) did, they never should have brought the case. Hopefully they will think long and hard about this the next time because this is a pretty high profile loss for them (and) they had the cost awarded against them too, which they deserved.”

The 400m hurdler who was accompanied by her friend and training partner Christine Day refused to speak with the press, but her agent Marvin Anderson was a relieved man when he spoke on her behalf.

“From the onset we believed in her innocence, we feel good that now she can go back to what she loves doing and that’s running. She has eight days for her next major competition which is the National Trials and that is where her focus is.

“Kaliese is a very strong person, she has dealt with the situation with calm, with humility, throughout the entire process. She was always confident that in time everything would have taken care of itself.”

The 30 year old will be back in competition at the National Senior Championships next week Thursday, when the 400m hurdles prelims will run off.