Athletics: Jamaican sprinter Steve Mullings has been banned for life from competing in athletics after a second doping offence. The former relay world champion was found guilty on Thursday of using the banned diuretic furosemide, which can act as a possible masking agent for other drugs.
He tested positive for the substance after placing third in the 100 metres final of the Jamaican national trials in June. He previously served a two-year ban after testing positive for excessive levels of testosterone in 2004.
"We the panel believes that a clear and strong message must be sent to every athlete in Jamaica and elsewhere that prohibited substances will not be tolerated in sports," said chairman of the Jamaican anti-doping disciplinary panel Lennox Gayle yesterday.
Mullings, 28, is expected to appeal the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), his attorney said. Alando Terrelonge said the decision was unfair based on the evidence presented to the three-member panel.
"There was no evidence before this panel to indicate that Mr Mullings either deliberately took a drug to enhance his performance or to mask the presence of other drugs that he was taking to enhance his performance," Terrelonge said.
The sprinter, now based in the United States, did not attend the hearing in which he was unanimously found guilty.
"The fact that Mr Mullings, on several occasions we tried to get him here and he refused to attend, and we believe that we certainly should impose the maximum in this particular case," Gayle added.
Four Jamaican sprinters - 2011 world champion Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson, Allodin Fothergill and Lansford Spence - were suspended for three months in 2009 after positive tests.
Women's Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser recently returned from a six-month ban after testing positive for banned substance oxycodone.