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July 24, 2014

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Bolt unhappy over Gay doping ban

USAIN Bolt believes anti-doping officials have sent a “bad message to the sport”, after American sprinter Tyson Gay received only a one-year ban following a positive test for an anabolic steroid.

“I’m not really happy with the situation and with how it was done,” Jamaican Bolt said on Tuesday.

“I think for someone like Asafa (Powell) to get a ban of 18 months for that (stimulant oxilofrine) and then Tyson Gay get just one year because of cooperating, I think it is sending a bad message into the sport that you can do it (dope) but if you cooperate with us, we’ll reduce the sentence,” the 100-200 meters world record holder and six-time Olympic gold medallist said.

The sanction, handed to Gay by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, ended in June this year.

Gay, who returned to competition on July 3 and ran 9.93 in the 100 at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting, is the world’s joint second fastest man along with Bolt’s compatriot Yohan Blake (9.69).

Both the World Anti-Doping Agency and track and field’s governing body, the IAAF, have accepted the controversial ban.

“I don’t think that’s the right way to go because you are pretty much telling people that this is a way out, it’s a way of beating the system, so personally, I don’t think the IAAF dealt with that very well,” Bolt said.

WADA said in early June that it was satisfied with the decision, while the IAAF said that it would not appeal Gay’s ban.

“After careful review of the full file provided by USADA, the IAAF has decided that the one-year sanction applied in the case of Tyson Gay was appropriate under the circumstances,” it said in a statement.

Athletes normally receive two-year bans for their first major doping offense, but under anti-doping rules the sanction can be reduced for substantial cooperation.

Meanwhile, Blake, double Olympic sprint silver medalist, has been ruled out for the rest of the 2014 season after undergoing a surgery on an injured hamstring, coach Glen Mills said on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old sustained the injury in at the Glasgow Grand Prix on July 11.

“Right now he’s on crutches, he had an operation couple of days ago,” Mills said.

Blake, who could not defend his 100 world title in Moscow last year because of a hamstring injury, had opted out of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow starting yesterday to concentrate on his build-up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

 




 

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