KINGSTON – Jamaican 400-metre runner Bobby-Gaye Wilkins was banned yesterday for two years for using a performance-enhancing substance.
Warren Blake of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association said the runner would be barred from competition until April 2012.
Wilkins tested positive for the banned substance andranine in March at the indoor world championships in Doha, Qatar. She was a member of the Jamaican 4×400 relay team that won a bronze medal at the tournament.
In another case, Blake said the penalty might be reduced for Olympic and world 100-metre champion Shelly-Ann Fraser, who was provisionally suspended by the IAAF in June after a positive test for a painkiller. Fraser said she took the medicine for a toothache.
“Circumstances exist for a reduction in ban and that’s something the IAAF agrees with,” Blake said. “We’re hoping that this will happen this week.”
Fraser tested positive for the prohibited substance Oxycodone at a meet in China on May 23, but her manager said a doctor gave her the medication to ease pain after a dental procedure. The Jamaican sprinter had been facing up to a two-year ban. (AP)
