 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Jamaica's 200 metres world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown has tested positive for a banned diuretic, sources close to Jamaican athletics told Reuters.
The sources said the doping violation occurred at the Jamaica International Invitational meeting on May 4 in Kingston.
Campbell-Brown, who won the Olympic 200 title in 2004 and 2008, is Jamaica's most successful female athlete and the biggest name in track and field to fall foul of the drug testers since disgraced American sprinter Marion Jones.
Jones served a six-month prison sentence and was stripped of the five medals, including three golds, she won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics after admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs.
Local media reports said Campbell-Brown had been present at the laboratory in Canada when her B sample was tested earlier this week.
The finding comes after Jamaican 400 metres runner Dominique Blake received a six-year ban on Thursday for her second doping violation since 2006.
Diuretics, which promote the production of urine and treat medical conditions including high blood pressure, are viewed as masking agents by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The penalty for a positive result ranges from a public warning to a two-year suspension depending on the circumstances.
Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images
