• Athletics

Jamaican sprinter Mullings handed life ban

ESPN staff
November 22, 2011
Steve Mullings has been banned after testing positive for furosimide © PA Photos
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Jamaican sprinter Steve Mullings has been banned from athletics for life by Jamaica's Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) as a result of a second doping offence.

Mullings, who was the fourth fastest 100m runner of 2011 after a 9.80 second run in Oregon, received the punishment after being found guilty of taking the banned substance furosimide.

The chemical, found in both the 28-year-old's A and B samples after the Jamaican national championships in June, is a diuretic that can potentially act as a masking agent for other performance enhancers.

Mullings was previously banned for two years in 2004, after high levels of testosterone were found in his sample while a student at Mississippi State University in the United States, where he still resides.

"We the panel believes that a clear and strong message must be sent to every athlete in Jamaica and elsewhere that prohibited substances will not be tolerated in sports," JADCO chairman Lennox Gayle told Reuters after the decision.

"On several occasions we tried to get him here and he refused to attend, and we believe that we certainly should impose the maximum in this particular case."

However, Mullings is expected to appeal against the decision - taking his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

"There was no evidence before this panel to indicate that Mr Mullings either deliberately took a drug to enhance his performance or to mask the presence of other drugs that he was taking to enhance his performance," Mullings' lawyer Alando Terrelonge said.

Mullings did not compete for Jamaica at this year's World Championships in Daegu - although he was a part of the 4x100m relay team that won gold at the event in 2009.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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