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PART 1 - http://www.jamaicans.com/forums/show...rinters-PART-1
WHAT DOES JADCO SAY?
Elliott, the JADCO chairman, bristles at mention of Shirley's name: "Ms. Shirley has done this country and herself a great deal of harm by saying things that are not totally in keeping with the truth," he said in a phone interview
.
JADCO's and Shirley's overall testing figures for 2012 actually agree. Both say JADCO did a total of 179 tests — 108 in competition and 71 out of competition. But Shirley gave month-by-month figures. JADCO didn't.
The AP pressed Elliott for them.
"Maybe I'll have the figures tomorrow," he replied.
But when called repeatedly 24 hours later, Elliott didn't pick up the phone. He also didn't respond to a text message. Without those figures, AP could not verify his claim that Shirley's statistics were wrong.
"Not all of them are lies. I mean, you know, she has exaggerated," he said.
Shirley's detailed breakdown showed the bulk of out-of-competition tests — 60 of the 71 — were done only after the London Games, after she took over at JADCO in July of 2012. In Sports Illustrated, she described finding the agency woefully understaffed.
Elliott confirmed to AP "there was no money in the coffers" when he was named JADCO's chairman in February 2012. Also hampering the agency's work was that 400 of its testing kits were out of date and therefore unusable, he said. He said JADCO borrowed kits from other Caribbean nations and from "people in Florida who we know."
The main obstacle he cited to out-of-competition testing was that "most of our athletes were off the island. We had them overseas preparing for the Olympics."
"Therefore we asked IAAF ... to test them overseas out of competition. All right? And they did," he said.
He also said: "We've done tests WADA doesn't know about." He didn't provide details.
Shirley left JADCO this February.
"The board and I did not get along, and there were other problems in the system. It overwhelmed me," she said.
Elliott said she was fired. He wouldn't say why. "She has her axe to grind," he said.
DID OTHER AGENCIES TEST?
Absolutely. The IAAF's out-of-competition testing program for Jamaica concentrated on athletes' training camps and "was robust and comprehensive," spokesman Chris Turner said by email.
Elliott claimed testers descended "in droves every day" on Jamaica's pre-Olympic track-and-field camp in Birmingham, England, in the weeks immediately before the games.
"Some of our athletes were raising hell that they were tested every day, and not only with urine, but blood," he said. "I don't think they could have done more testing. They were testing every athlete in our camp, sometimes twice a day."
Shirley also acknowledges that other agencies policed the Jamaicans.
"I'm pretty sure that all of the athletes who went to London were tested at least once and the majority of them more than once," she told the AP.
On Bolt, specifically, she added: "I am positive that he got tested in double figures" in 2012.
But the exact extent of testing on Bolt and his teammates is tightly guarded. When Bolt's agent, Ricky Simms, tells the AP "he's tested almost every week," the public has no way of verifying that.
The IOC tested the top five finishers after each event in London. That means Bolt as well as teammates Yohan Blake (100 and 200 silver; relay gold), Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (women's 100 gold; 200 and relay silver), and Veronica Campbell-Brown (100 bronze; relay silver; 4th in 200) must have been tested multiple times in London.
But the IOC refuses to give specific testing numbers for the Jamaicans. Bolt and Simms say they don't tally up his tests. "I don't even know where we'd go to find that information," said Simms.
Bolt, asked by the AP at his last race this year how frequently he is tested, said: "Sometimes they will come like six times in one month and then you won't see them for two months and then they come three times in one week. So I don't really keep track. I just get drug tested when I do."
Fraser-Pryce said she was tested "more than 18" times this year. She offered to let the AP see the receipts that she, like all tested athletes, gets when giving samples.
But her manager, Adrian Laidlaw, then point-blank refused.
"The good thing about this conversation is I'm going to make sure that she never makes a statement like that again," he told the AP.
WHAT NEXT?
After Shirley exposed JADCO's shortcomings, Howman wrote to the Jamaican government asking for an explanation.
He says he got long replies and an invitation to send experts.
The team will check whether JADCO remains compliant with WADA's code of anti-doping rules, as well as who the agency is testing and how, its budget, and "that what they're doing is of significant quality," Howman said.
Elliott expects WADA's team to visit at the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014.
"The last time they were here they claimed everything was OK," he said. "So I don't see how they're going to say anything is different this time."
SOURCE: http://www.thestar.com/sports/amateu...sprinters.html
WHAT DOES JADCO SAY?
Elliott, the JADCO chairman, bristles at mention of Shirley's name: "Ms. Shirley has done this country and herself a great deal of harm by saying things that are not totally in keeping with the truth," he said in a phone interview
.
JADCO's and Shirley's overall testing figures for 2012 actually agree. Both say JADCO did a total of 179 tests — 108 in competition and 71 out of competition. But Shirley gave month-by-month figures. JADCO didn't.
The AP pressed Elliott for them.
"Maybe I'll have the figures tomorrow," he replied.
But when called repeatedly 24 hours later, Elliott didn't pick up the phone. He also didn't respond to a text message. Without those figures, AP could not verify his claim that Shirley's statistics were wrong.
"Not all of them are lies. I mean, you know, she has exaggerated," he said.
Shirley's detailed breakdown showed the bulk of out-of-competition tests — 60 of the 71 — were done only after the London Games, after she took over at JADCO in July of 2012. In Sports Illustrated, she described finding the agency woefully understaffed.
Elliott confirmed to AP "there was no money in the coffers" when he was named JADCO's chairman in February 2012. Also hampering the agency's work was that 400 of its testing kits were out of date and therefore unusable, he said. He said JADCO borrowed kits from other Caribbean nations and from "people in Florida who we know."
The main obstacle he cited to out-of-competition testing was that "most of our athletes were off the island. We had them overseas preparing for the Olympics."
"Therefore we asked IAAF ... to test them overseas out of competition. All right? And they did," he said.
He also said: "We've done tests WADA doesn't know about." He didn't provide details.
Shirley left JADCO this February.
"The board and I did not get along, and there were other problems in the system. It overwhelmed me," she said.
Elliott said she was fired. He wouldn't say why. "She has her axe to grind," he said.
DID OTHER AGENCIES TEST?
Absolutely. The IAAF's out-of-competition testing program for Jamaica concentrated on athletes' training camps and "was robust and comprehensive," spokesman Chris Turner said by email.
Elliott claimed testers descended "in droves every day" on Jamaica's pre-Olympic track-and-field camp in Birmingham, England, in the weeks immediately before the games.
"Some of our athletes were raising hell that they were tested every day, and not only with urine, but blood," he said. "I don't think they could have done more testing. They were testing every athlete in our camp, sometimes twice a day."
Shirley also acknowledges that other agencies policed the Jamaicans.
"I'm pretty sure that all of the athletes who went to London were tested at least once and the majority of them more than once," she told the AP.
On Bolt, specifically, she added: "I am positive that he got tested in double figures" in 2012.
But the exact extent of testing on Bolt and his teammates is tightly guarded. When Bolt's agent, Ricky Simms, tells the AP "he's tested almost every week," the public has no way of verifying that.
The IOC tested the top five finishers after each event in London. That means Bolt as well as teammates Yohan Blake (100 and 200 silver; relay gold), Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (women's 100 gold; 200 and relay silver), and Veronica Campbell-Brown (100 bronze; relay silver; 4th in 200) must have been tested multiple times in London.
But the IOC refuses to give specific testing numbers for the Jamaicans. Bolt and Simms say they don't tally up his tests. "I don't even know where we'd go to find that information," said Simms.
Bolt, asked by the AP at his last race this year how frequently he is tested, said: "Sometimes they will come like six times in one month and then you won't see them for two months and then they come three times in one week. So I don't really keep track. I just get drug tested when I do."
Fraser-Pryce said she was tested "more than 18" times this year. She offered to let the AP see the receipts that she, like all tested athletes, gets when giving samples.
But her manager, Adrian Laidlaw, then point-blank refused.
"The good thing about this conversation is I'm going to make sure that she never makes a statement like that again," he told the AP.
WHAT NEXT?
After Shirley exposed JADCO's shortcomings, Howman wrote to the Jamaican government asking for an explanation.
He says he got long replies and an invitation to send experts.
The team will check whether JADCO remains compliant with WADA's code of anti-doping rules, as well as who the agency is testing and how, its budget, and "that what they're doing is of significant quality," Howman said.
Elliott expects WADA's team to visit at the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014.
"The last time they were here they claimed everything was OK," he said. "So I don't see how they're going to say anything is different this time."
SOURCE: http://www.thestar.com/sports/amateu...sprinters.html
