Story highlights
Veronica Campbell-Brown provisionally suspended from competing
The triple Olympic champion tested positive for a banned substance
The Jamaican's manager has launched a staunch defense of his athlete
Campbell-Brown was the first Jamaican to win a global 100m title
Two-time Olympic 200 meter champion Veronica Campbell-Brown has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.
The Jamaican sprinter, who has won seven Olympic medals during a glittering athletics career, reportedly had traces of a banned diuretic, which is used as a masking agent, in a sample she provided to testers at the International Invitational World Challenge on May 4.
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The London 2012 100m bronze medalist has promised to clear her name.
“The Jamaican Athletics Administrative Association can now confirm that a case concerning Veronica Campbell-Brown is currently ongoing,” read the JAAA statement.
“She has been provisionally suspended from competition awaiting the outcome of a disciplinary panel that will be empaneled to hear this case.”
British newspaper The Guardian reported the banned diuretic was from a cream she was using in an attempt to recover from a leg injury.
Diuretics promote the production of urine and are used to help high blood pressure and are banned because they can be used by athletes to hide other performance-enhancing substances.
Campbell-Brown’s manager Claude Bryan insisted the 31-year-old athlete was not a cheat.
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“Due to her determination to vigorously pursue the clearing of her name, she will desist from being vocal,” said Bryan of Campbell-Brown, who was the first Jamaican to hold a global 100m title.
“Suffice it to say, while not accepting guilt of willfully taking a banned substance, she wholeheartedly apologizes to her family, Jamaica, her sponsors, the governing body, the world athletics family, her supporters as well as those she worked with in various non-athletic causes for any embarrassment and or hurt this devastating news has caused.”
“She remains an ardent believer in the purity of competition, the beauty of the sport and resolute in the fact that unearned suffering has redemptive qualities.”
If found guilty, Campbell-Brown could face a two-year ban.
