Jamaica and Usain Bolt Face Olympic Expulsion in WADA Warning

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has warned Jamaica it could be expelled from the next Olympic Games and other major competitions if they do not address their failings.

Renee Anne Shirley, doctor former executive director of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) claimed the drug testing programme in the country was inadequate.

Shirley said politicians and administrators ignored her warnings that positive tests from Asafa Powell and four other Jamaican athletes were a ‘disaster’ waiting to happen and instead believed that ‘Jamaica does not have a problem.’

This led WADA director general David Howman to urge the government to investigate and he has now warned of their expulsion if they do not comply with the WADA code.

If they do not comply then the country and their athletes – including record breaker Usain Bolt – could be banned from future Olympic Games.

Howman said: “Our normal approach if we have issues falling into the category of either complaint or concern is to try to work with the particular signatory — in this case the Nada [national anti-doping agency] — and remedy it.

“If nothing happens, pills we can ask our board to declare any of the signatories non-compliant and that has implications as to whether teams from the country would be admitted into various events.”

He added: “We were certainly concerned by the comments and would anticipate that the government and the agency itself would be appropriately responding.

“It’s serious. And I think that if responsible people in Jamaica are looking at it then they will address it. I would be disappointed if they didn’t. But, advice certainly, if there’s a lack of response then it’s something that we at Wada would want to take up with the Jamaican government.”

Shirley revealed that JADCO had only conducted one out-of-competition test in the five months before London 2012, which WADA knew about according to Howman.

He said: “We knew that there was a spell in Jamaica where they didn’t have a CEO and there was a spell when they were not conducting testing and we didn’t know the reason for that. But that was certainly something that we became aware of.

“There was a gap where there was nothing because the previous CEO resigned to take up a political appointment or to seek election in the government. We were worried about that.”