Brian Homewood of Reuters is reporting that Jamaican sprinter Steve Mullings, who was accused for a second time in November 2011 of doping, lost his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Subsequently, Mullings faces a lifetime ban from athletics. The 30-year-old, although he won a gold medal during the 2009 world championships in Berlin, was unable to compete in the Athens Olympics as a result of his first ban. The second round of accusations arose in June 2011 when he tested positive for furosemide. He had placed third in a final trial in Jamaica before the London Olympics.
Homewood writes:
“The athlete argued that there were problems with the 2004 positive test meaning it should not be counted as a first sanction for a doping offence,” said CAS.
“He argued further that the laboratory results of the 2011 test were unreliable and that the disciplinary proceedings were flawed.”
CAS said proceedings were delayed as it collected evidence from both tests.
“The CAS panel….. considered that the athlete had not presented any basis to challenge the testing procedure of the 2011 sample,” said the verdict.
“Furthermore, while Mullings has attempted to raise suspicion about his first violation, the CAS panel did not find that the circumstances surrounding the first offence warranted a more lenient sanction.”
Read more at Reuters and ESPN.
This news brief was written by Kaitlin Higgins.
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