The entire board of the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO), the body responsible for independent drug testing for the nation's athletes and sportspeople have resigned. The board had come under fire for perceived conflict of interest, plus a catalogue of issues which led to a World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) review at the end of October. The resignations are part of a restructuring of the body by the Jamaican government in an effort to protect the reputation of the nation's athletes, according to reports in the Jamaica Observer.
JADCO have been under increasing pressure after 5 Olympic athletes, including former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell produced adverse findings for banned substances in July. It was also revealed that only one out of competition drugs test was carried out in the 5 months running up to the London Olympics. It also recently emerged that the now former head of JADCO could not prove he had the PhD he claimed.
WADA had previously threatened to declare the nation "non-compliant" which could have resulted in the entire nation missing out on the Olympics and Athletic World Championships. Jamaica's most senior tester, Dr Paul Wright stated that the five positive tests could be the "tip of an iceberg". However, the increased focus on anti-doping has not gone down well with athletes: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, gold medalist at the London and Beijing games has called on the national athletic association to back it's athletes up, threatening to strike.
"If it comes down to not competing to make sure that things are up to scratch when it comes to facilities and different things in Jamaica then I would. We believe that we deserve not to have our names tarnished."
Jamaica is not the only nation under fire, with Kenya also coming under increased scrutiny for a rash of positive tests, 17 in all since January 2012.
