Jamaican athlete compromised after Olympic retests

A Jamaican athlete has returned an adverse analytical finding from the re-testing of athletes’ samples from either the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China or the 2012 Games in London, England.

The athlete has reportedly been notified and has retained the services of a prominent attorney.

Efforts to contact a representative of the athlete's club were unsuccessful.

Jamaica Olympic Association President Mike Fennell, responding to queries as to whether his association has been notified of any adverse test results, said the JOA was not in a position to confirm or deny whether they had been notified. It was a change in tone from earlier this week when he had said the JOA had not received any notification.

Dr. Warren Blake, President of the Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association (JAAA) had also said he had not received any notification either in the JAAA’s or his private email.

“We would be the one contacted we would have to be the ones setting up the disciplinary panel,” Dr. Blake explained. He added that he had heard the rumours but there was nothing official to say that any Jamaican athlete had been implicated from the retests.

However, sources indicate that Dr. Blake and the JAAA would be receiving the notification second-hand as any communication from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who ordered the re-testing of samples, would have been sent to the athlete directly and copied to the JOA and the International Associations of Athletic Federations (IAAF). The IAAF would then notify the JAAA.

The IOC has said 31 athletes had failed drug tests from more than 400 samples re-tested from 2008.The body released a further statement saying 23 athletes had failed tests from the London Games in 2012.