Sprint cases show drug testing works: IAAF

Athletics’ world governing body on Monday said that the anti-doping system was working, after top sprinters Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell returned positive tests, sending shockwaves through the sport.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said it had an ‘unwavering’ commitment to root out drug cheats, as it had a duty to the majority of athletes who believed in clean competition.

‘It is for them that we have built a programme that is well-resourced, far-reaching and sophisticated,’ the IAAF said in an emailed statement.  ‘The fact that we are able to detect and remove from the sport athletes who have breached our anti-doping rules should be seen in this context.  ‘The credibility of our anti-doping programme, and the sport of athletics, is enhanced, each time we are able to uncover a new case and we have the committed support.’

MAIN DOPING CASES IN SPRINTING

1998: At the Olympic Games in Seoul, Canadian star Ben Johnson tests positive for anabolic steroid stanozolol a few days after his victory in the 100m final, won in a world-record time of 9.79 seconds. It marked the first major doping scandal in Games history

1999: Barcelona Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie, was hit with a two-year suspension after testing positive for nandrolone

2003: Recently crowned 100m and 200m world champion Kelli White admits taking banned substances

2004: British sprinter Dwain Chambers, at the time co-holder of the European 100m record, receives a two-year ban for testing positive

2004:  Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou are excluded on the eve of the Athens Games after being accused of faking a motorcycle crash to skip drugs testing

2005:  American Tim Montgomery, a former 100m world-record holder after running 9.78sec in 2002, is banned for two years

2006:  Justin Gatlin, the defending 100m Olympic champion, is slapped with a four-year ban after testing positive for testosterone

2007:  Marion Jones admits to taking steroids from as early as 1999, an admission that costs her five medals (three gold, two bronze)

2009:  Jamaican Yohan Blake gets a three-month ban after a test comes back positive for the stimulant methylhexanamine

2010: Jamaica’s Olympic and world 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser receives a six-month suspension after testing positive for oxycodone

2011:  Steve Mullings of Jamaica is hit with a lifetime ban following a positive test for a masking product

2013:  Veronica Campbell-Brown, the reigning world champion in the 200m, is provisionally suspended following a positive test for a diuretic

2013:  USA star Tyson Gay reveals he provided an out-of-competition sample. Jamaica’s Asafa Powell tested positive for oxilofrine