Tobi Amusan, the 100m hurdles world record holder, yesterday said that she has been charged with missing three doping tests, but has denied taking performance enhancing substances and expects to be cleared to compete at the world championships.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said that Amusan had been provisionally suspended due to three “whereabouts failures” and that the charge would be heard by the disciplinary tribunal and determined before the Aug. 19-27 championships in Budapest.
“I am a CLEAN ATHLETE, and I am regularly; (maybe more than the usual) tested by the AIU — I was tested within days of my third ‘missed test,’” the Nigerian wrote on Instagram. “I have FAITH that this will be resolved in my favour and that I will be competing at the World Championships in August.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
The 26-year-old said that her case would be decided by a tribunal of three arbitrators.
Under the World Athletics anti-doping rules, the applicable sanction for three “whereabouts” failures is two years’ ineligibility, subject to a reduction to a minimum of one year depending on an athlete’s degree of fault.
Athletics has a three-strikes rule that states if an athlete does not provide accurate whereabouts information for a doping test they may incur a declaration of a missed test, or a filing failure.
Three strikes in a 12-month period is an anti-doping contravention.
She won the Silesia Diamond League meet in Poland on Sunday, her second Diamond League victory this season.
At the Golden Spike athletics meet in the Czech Republic last month, she finished in third place in the women’s 100m hurdles.
She became the first Nigerian world champion and world record holder in an athletics event with her victory last year in Eugene, Oregon, where she set the world record of 12.12 seconds.
Amusan was part of Nigeria’s 4x100m relay squad that won gold at the Commonwealth Games last year, but were then stripped of their medal after anchor runner Grace Nwokocha failed a doping test.
Additional reporting by AFP
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried