The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has provisionally suspended Gerald Phiri, the Director of Track and Field and Cross Country at Florida’s Montverde Academy.
The provisional suspension comes as part of an ongoing joint investigation with the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and was triggered after three athletes, coached by Phiri, returned "Adverse Analytical Findings" for the same prohibited substance, according to the AIU Press Release.
Allegedly, between July 2023 and August 2024, the three track athletes tested positive for a substance known as GW1516, Cardarine.
Notoriously, In August of 2023, Suriname's Issam Asinga was provisionally suspended by the AIU after breaking the World U20 record in the 100m and setting a HS national record in the 100m. He ran a wind-legal 100m of 9.89 seconds, but tested positive for GW1516.
He was coached by Phiri during his time at Montverde Academy prior to the suspension.
Notably, Asinga has maintained his stance of innocence. He alleges that he consumed Gatorade Recovery Gummies that were contaminated with the substance GW1516, resulting in his positive test.
The AIU also alleges that Phiri committed Anti-Doping Rules Violations for the possession of GW1516 when he was an athlete in 2018 and 2019, the possession of Meldonium as an "Athlete Support Person" in 2024 and failure to cooperate with said investigation.
He was provisionally suspended as of March 17, 2025.
Prior to his time as a coach at Montverde Academy, Phiri was an Olympian for Zambia. He also attended and competed for Texas A&M between 2008 and 2011.
Montverde Academy is the former home of star talents Michelle Smith and Adaejah Hodge from the US Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands, respectively.
Smith, 18, is a two-time World Under-20 Championships finalist in the 400m hurdles and has won multiple medals at the CARIFTA Games in both the 400m hurdles and 800m.
Hodge, 19, won 200m gold and 100m silver at last year's World Under-20 Championships in Lima, Peru and is also her country's reigning national champion in both the 100m and the 200m.
She has also excelled at the CARIFTA Games, most famously winning gold medals in the 100m, 200m and long jump at the 2022 Games in Kingston.
Smith and Hodge are both currently freshmen at the University of Georgia.
Photo courtesy of FloTrack.