Jamaican sprinter Steve Mullings tests positive

http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=30908

Jamaican sprinter tests positive

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer
Go Jamaica
2011-08-10

An emerging sprinter that was expected to represent Jamaica at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Daegu, South Korea in three weeks, has reportedly returned an adverse analytical finding.

The result, which revealed a masking agent was derived from a drug test administered at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association/Supreme Ventures National Senior Championships, held between June 23 and 26 this year.

In sports, a masking agent is used to hide or prevent detection of a banned substance or illegal drug such as anabolic steroids or stimulants.

The news comes just over a week before the team departs for a one-week camp in Gyeonasan, South Korea. The team is also set to be named next week.

Word is that the United States-based athlete, who returned this latest adverse finding was failing a test for the second time which could effectively mean the end of his international career considering that, if found to be culpable, it could lead to a four year suspension.

The athlete has reportedly been notified and will now have to face a disciplinary hearing effectively ruling him out of the championships where he was a medal contender in two events.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110811/sports/sports1.html

Steve Mullings tests positive

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer
Jamaican Gleaner
Thursday | August 11, 2011



The future of Jamaican sprinter Steve Mullings now hangs in the balance after revelations that he tested positive for a masking agent, two weeks before the start of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea. Mullings now faces a minimum ban of four years and could be removed from the sport for life.

It is understood that the results of a test carried out by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission during the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA)/Supreme Ventures National Senior Championships, held between June 23 and 26 this year, showed the presence of the substance, which is meant to conceal the existence of banned substances or illegal drugs, such as anabolic steroids or stimulants.

Several efforts to contact the sprinter and his agent John Regis proved futile.

The news comes just over a week before the team departs for a one-week camp in Gyeonasan, South Korea. The team is also set to be named next week.

Mullings previously failed a drug test during qualification for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, after higher-than-normal levels of testosterone were found in his system.

As a result, he was slapped with a two-year ban and his results between the middle of 2004 and 2005 were wiped from the records.

Failing a reversal, this latest incident could effectively mean the end of his international career.

The athlete has reportedly been notified and will now have to face a disciplinary hearing, effectively ruling him out of the championships in Daegu, where he was seen as a strong medal contender in the 100m and 200m. Mullings was also expected to feature on Jamaica's 4x100m relay team.

President of the JAAA, Howard Aris, was unable to comment and said at press time that he had received no official notification.

Executive director of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission, Dr Patrece Charles Freeman, also declined to comment on the matter.

In all doping cases, the athlete has the right to a hearing of their case before the relevant disciplinary body or tribunal. The athlete must confirm in writing, within 14 days of notification, that they would like a hearing, otherwise it is assumed that the athlete accepts that a violation has occurred.

The hearing before a tribunal must be held within two months from the date of notification to the athlete. The athlete has the right to legal counsel and to call witnesses. The decision of the tribunal will be sent to the world's governing body, the IAAF.

Reimpose suspension

If the IAAF does not agree with the sanction, the case will be reviewed by the IAAF Doping Review Board, which decides whether it appeals to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS); if so, it may reimpose suspension. The athlete also has a right of appeal to CAS.

The news comes as another blow to Jamaican track and field after recent scandals, particularly shortly before the last IAAF World Championships held in Berlin, Germany, in 2009.

Back then, five athletes tested positive for a stimulant at the national championships. The athletes were served with three-month suspensions and allowed to resume their careers.

Last year, World and Olympic 100-metre champion Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce tested positive for the painkiller Oxycodone and was subsequently banned for six months. Her ban ended in January this year.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/19082011/2/athletics-world-champion-mullings-confirms-positive-drug-test.html

Athletics-World champion Mullings confirms positive drug test


By Reuters
eurosport.yahoo
Fri, 19 Aug 2011


World champion Steve Mullings has confirmed he has tested positive for the banned diuretic furosemide and could now face a life ban from athletics.

Mullings, who won gold in the 4x100 relay team at Berlin in 2009, had tested positive for the substance at the Jamaican national trials in June, and was left off the country's team for the Aug. 27-Sept. 4 world championships in Daegu when it was named on Monday.

The 'B' sample, which was tested in Montreal, had also come back positive and he was informed of the result by the Jamaica Anti-doping Commission (JADCO) on Thursday, a distraught Mullings told Reuters by telephone from his home in Florida.

"They say it was in my urine. That's a drug that has to be prescribed," Mullings said.

"The people around me know I don't take drugs, but it's going to look bad on me because 2004, now it's 2011 they said I was on drugs that I don't even know of.

"What (does) that drug really do? I really don't know," added Mullings, who lowered his personal best for 100 metres to 9.80 seconds at the Eugene Diamond League meeting on June 4.

Furosemide is on the World Anti-doping Agency's banned list because it could be used as a possible masking agent for other drugs.

The Jamaican 200 metres champion now faces a possible life ban from the sport after he was banned for two years in 2004 for excessive levels of testosterone.

Mullings said he was uncertain whether he would ask for a hearing.

"What can I do? I'm going to go in front of the panel and say I never took the drug. But I don't have the proof to say, 'ok, it was vitamins'.

"I've already gone through all my vitamins and there's nothing in there," Mullings said.

Mullings had been notified by JADCO on Aug. 8 that his initial sample returned an adverse analytical finding at Jamaica's national trial on June 24.

He now has 14 days to formally request a hearing from the Jamaica Anti-doping Disciplinary Panel

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110823/sports/sports1.html



Mullings hearing put off till October

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer
Tuesday August 23, 2011
Jamaican Gleaner

The disciplinary hearing into sprinter Steve Mullings' adverse analytical finding has been postponed until October 19 and 20, at the request of the attorneys representing the athlete, who faces the possibility of a life ban from the sport.

Mullings returned an adverse finding in both 'A' and 'B' samples taken during the Jamaican National Championships held between June 23 and 26.

Both samples were found to contain traces of the diuretic furosemide, which according to the World Anti-Doping Agency is a masking agent for athletes using anabolic steroids.

The Florida-based sprinter, who has maintained his innocence, was to have represented Jamaica at the IAAF World Athletic Championships that get under way this weekend in Daegu, South Korea. He would have been competing in the 100- and 200-metre sprints.

Yesterday, the Jamaica Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel, chaired by Lennox Gayle and comprising FIFA referee Peter Prendergast and Dr Japheth Ford, granted the request for an adjournment made by Patrick Bailey, senior partner of the law firm Bailey, Terrelonge and Allen, which represents Mullings in the matter.

The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) was also represented by its executive director, Dr Patrece Charles-Freeman.

According to Bailey, the athlete intends to have his urine samples retested abroad and time is needed to conduct the tests and furnish a report.

For that to be done, they need six weeks from yesterday's date.

No objection to extension
Gladstone Robinson, the attorney representing JADCO, said he had no objection to the request, as they want to allow the athlete enough time to prepare his defence.

Bailey explained that Mullings was absent from the hearing because of the short notice between him being notified of the 'B' sample, August 18, and the start of the hearing yesterday, August 22, but that the athlete had not waived his right to the hearing.

Mullings was listening in on the phone from the United States, along with attorney Allison Strange of the law firm Bret Jones PA in Clermont, Florida. Strange is partnering with Ryan Cipparone on the case.

Meantime, before the next hearing, JADCO is expected to file particulars and its list of witnesses with the Jamaica Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel secretariat and service the athlete and his attorneys Bailey, Terrelonge and Allen by September 22.

The athlete is to file his particulars and list of witnesses with the disciplinary panel secretariat and serve JADCO by October 3. JADCO will reply and serve the athlete and attorneys by October 17, two days before the hearing is reconvened.