KINGSTON — The four Jamaican athletes who were left off the nation’s team to the World Championships last month have admitted to using a banned substance.
The sprinters who identified as Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson, Lansford Spence and Allodin Fothergill, earlier this week admitted to taking a banned stimulant before Jamaica’s National Championships in June.
They appeared on Wednesday before an appeals tribunal assembled by Jamaica’s Sports Ministry.
Tribunal chairman Ransford Langrin said on Friday the runners face a ban of up two years. A sentencing hearing was set for Sept. 14.
Attorney Lincoln Eatmon said his clients acknowledged guilt to avoid a "lengthy, expensive battle."
A disciplinary panel had initially cleared them, but that ruling was appealed by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission.
Two of the athletes, Blake and Anderson are training partners of world and Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt who also owns the world records in the sprints.
Bolt, has, however, never failed a drug test.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games 100m champion Sheri-Ann Brooks was on Thursday cleared by the tribunal because her backup sample was tested without her knowledge.
