Jamaica's Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) said tonight that they will appeal against the decision to clear the five athletes by an independent panel set up by the country's Sports Ministry.

 

 

Blake, Marvin Anderson, Allodin Fothergill and Lansford Spence were all cleared, joining Commonwealth 100 metres champion Sheri-Ann Brooks whose case was thrown out last week after a procedural error in the testing of her B-sample.

 

The decision has led to fresh claims that Jamaica is not tough enough on doping among its top athletes.

 

The disciplinary committee took the decision to clear the athletes because substance methylxanthine was not on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned list.

 

JADCO released a statement after details of the decision were released.

 

It said: "In light of the decision of the disciplinary panel JADCO will enforce its rights and appeal the decision."

 

JADCO's appeal will be based on evidence that methylxanthine contains a similar structure to tuaminoheptane which is listed as a stimulant in the WADA list of unauthorised substances.

 

World governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, has still to receive the official findings from the Jamaican Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) before it can either confirm or question the findings.

 

An IAAF spokesman that when these are submitted, it will be considered by its Medical and Anti-Doping Commission who will make recommendations to its council which is meeting in Berlin this week.

Should there be disagreement with the JAAA submission, the IAAF will almost certainly refer the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and temporarily suspend the athletes until a binding decision is made.

 

That procedure would see all five athletes prevented from competing at the World Championships, which begin in Berlin on Saturday.

 

Blake, 19, the 2006 world junior 100m bronze medallist, who is coached by Bolt's trainer Glen Mills, has been identified as one of the rising stars of the sport, having run 9.93sec last month, making him the fifth fastest man in the world this year.

 

Anderson, 27, was a member of the Jamaican 4x100m relay team that won a silver medal at the last World Championships in Osaka two years ago, and also trains alongside Bolt under Mills.

 

Spence, 26, helped the 4x400m squad to a bronze at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, while Fothergill, 22, ran the Jamaican 4x400m team that finished eighth at the Olympics in Beijing last year.

 

Brooks (pictured), 26, won the Commwealth title in Melbourne three years ago and was also a member of the Jamaican team that won the 4x100m at the same Games.

 

She qualified for the 100m at the 2009 World Championships with a third place finish at the Jamaican national championships, behind Shelly-Ann Fraser and Kerron Stewart.

 

The JADCO said: "All signatories to the [World Anti-Doping] Code must adhere to the list of prohibited substances and methods issued by WADA each year and in this instance the list which came into effect on 1 January 2009.

"All four athletes were found with 4-Mehtly-2 Hexanamine in their urine samples which was reported as an Adverse Analytical Finding by the WADA accredited laboratory in Montreal, Canada, and that this substance is considered by WADA as being of similar chemical structure to Tuaminoheptane, which is listed as an example of a stimulant in the WADA 2009 prohibited list international standard."