Jamaica’s Spencer cleared of anti-doping rule violation

KINGSTON: Jamaica’s Kaliese Spencer, the 2014 Commonwealth Games 400 metres hurdles champion, was on Tuesday cleared of an anti-doping rule violation by an independent disciplinary panel.

The decision means Spencer, who faced a four-year ban on charges that she refused or evaded a drug test on April 27 2016 at her training base, can resume competing immediately.

The panel decided that the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission(Jadco), who brought the charges, could not prove that 30-year-old Spencer had been properly notified under World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) rules that she was required for testing.

Confirmation of the ruling came from attorney Kent Gammon, who chaired the three-member antidoping panel which conducted a twoday hearing in May at the Jamaica Conference Centre.

“The decision that we arrived at today was that we were not persuaded that the athlete Miss Spencer had committed a breach of Article 2.3, in particular disciplinary Gammon said.

“The deciding of the anti-doping commission rules,” factor was the Age: 23 World ranking: 6 Major titles: 2 (2015 Masters, US Open) Spieth became the youngest US Open winner in 92 years at Chambers Bay in 2015, just two months after claiming the Masters. The young Texan also went close in the British Open, but predictions of a Tiger Woods-style era of dominance proved premature. A patchy 2016 was best remembered for his dramatic back nine meltdown on the final day of the Masters when a five-shot lead evaporated. Nevertheless a solid start to 2017 began with three top 10 finishes before his first victory of the season at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. equivocation that the athlete was properly notified as to the anti-doping violation and the non-compliance of Rule 5.0 of the international standards Age: 25 World ranking: 4 Major titles: 0 Matsuyama increasingly looks the likeliest bet to join South Korea’s Yang Yong-Eun as the only Asian-born man to win a major championship. Matsuyama had a mixed record in majors in 2016, posting a seventh place finish at the Masters before missing the cuts at the US and British Opens. He then earned a fourth place finish at the PGA Championship. This season he retained the Waste Management Phoenix Open with a playoff win over Webb Simpson and performed solidly at Augusta with an 11th place finish. for testing of Wada,” he added.

The decision means the 2009 world championship mile relay silver medallist can compete in Jamaica’s National Senior Championship (June 22-25), which will be used to select the Caribbean island’s team for the August 4-13 worlds in London.

Spencer, who was represented by American Paul Greene, had denied the charges. The panel awarded Spencer costs. “I’m elated for Kaliese. This has been a very trying three months for her,” Greene said via telephone.

“In my opinion the case should have never been brought, the provisional suspension should have never have imposed because there was no evidence she did anything wrong and the decision vindicated her today, and proved to Jamaica that Kaliese is innocent and never did anything wrong,” he said. “I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that they (Jadco) actually brought this case... and hopefully next time they’ll think twice before bringing a case without evidence,” he added.