Dr Patrece Charles-Freeman, executive director of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission. - file

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has requested the case files of the track and field athletes who were last month suspended for three months as it seeks to determine if it is to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

WADA's role is to assess the sanctioning process followed by the relevant anti-doping organisation following the completion of the disciplinary process.

Should WADA have any concerns about the process or the result, WADA may exercise its right of appeal to CAS. WADA has a right of appeal to CAS for cases under the jurisdiction of organisations that have implemented the code.

satisfied

"As it does with any decision taken by a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code, WADA requested the case files," said Frédéric Donze, WADA's senior manager, media relations and communications, in an email response to questions posed by this paper as to whether or not WADA was satisfied with the decision of the Appeal Tribunal that banned the sprinters until December this year.

"Upon receipt of the documents, WADA will review the reasons for the decisions before determining whether or not to exercise its independent right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport," the senior manager said.

Dr Patrece Charles-Freeman, executive director of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO), confirmed yesterday that WADA made the request for the files last week and that they were sent off this week. Donze did not disclose how long it would be before WADA made its decision.

Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson, Allodin Fothergill and Lansford Spence were suspended after each returned an adverse analytical finding from samples taken during the National Championships in June this year.

Sheri-Ann Brooks also returned a positive test but her case was thrown out because her B sample was tested without her knowledge.

All five athletes tested positive for 4-methyl-2-hexanamine at the championships to select Jamaica's team to the IAAF World Champion-ships in Berlin in August and were subsequently not allowed to compete. However, they were cleared by a disciplinary panel who ruled that the stimulant derived from geranium extract was not on WADA's banned list.

appealed verdict

JADCO led by Dr Charles-Freeman appealed the verdict claiming that the stimulant had a similar molecular structure to tuaminoheptane which is a banned stimulant. On September 14, the Appeals Tribunal led by Justice Ransford Langrin upheld the appeal after the athletes accepted the results of the adverse findings.

On September 24, Glen Mills, president of the Racers Track Club under whose banner Blake and Anderson train and compete, said the club was mulling legal action against the company that manufactures the supplement Muscle Speed that the athletes were taking and which contained the stimulant for which they were banned.

Mills states that the manufacturer - on its website - claimed that the supplement was WADA and NCAA compliant but after the adverse findings were made public those claims were removed.

At the press conference held at Eden Gardens on Lady Musgrave Road, Marketing and Communi-cations Manager of Racers Track Club Carole Beckford explained that the athletes eventually accepted the adverse findings because there was no way they would be able to challenge them.