The Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association has laid the blame squarely at the feet of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission for World Athletics' decision not to ratify the World U20 Women 4x100m relay record set on April 17, 2022, during the 49th staging of the Carifta Games at the National Stadium in Kingston.
On that night, the quartet of Serena Cole, Tina Clayton, Brianna Lyston and Tia Clayton scorched the track in 42.58s eclipsing the time of 42.94 also set by Jamaica at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya in August 2021.
However, World Athletics rejected the time set in Kingston citing that not all four athletes were subjected to anti-doping control. JADCO, in a statement on Wednesday, said they only tested three athletes after the record was set because one of the athletes had been tested the day before after she had won her event. Hence, they took the decision not to test her again.
However, in a statement released later Wednesday, the JAAA, which had contracted JADCO for the three-day meet, made it clear that the Jamaican anti-doping agency did not adhere to their instructions.
“It is a fact that all four athletes were notified by the Jamaica Anti-doping Commission (JADCO) officials and presented themselves to the anti-doping station within the required time window to be tested. Unfortunately, JADCO took the decision, unknown to the JAAA and the NACAC’s Anti-Doping Delegate, not to test the athlete based on a JADCO standard. This was in direct contradiction to oral and written instructions by the JAAA,” the athletics governing body stated.
“It is to be noted that JADCO is the agency that performs anti-doping testing on our athletes both in and out of competition on behalf of the JAAA and was contracted to do so at the NACAC 2022 Carifta Games.”
The JAAA said it sent the performance along with the supporting documentation to World Athletics for ratification and it was only after they did so that it was pointed it that one of the athletes, Tina Clayton, who won the U20 Girls 100m, was not tested on the night of the relay world record.