Shaunae-Miller-Uibo has called foul on the decision to dismiss charges against Salwa Eid Nasser and has called for the formation of an independent athletes’ body in a bid to maintain the integrity of the sport.
The Bahamian track star also called on World Athletics President Lord Sebastien Coe to provide a detailed explanation of all the different failures that unfolded in the Naser case.
Naser, 22, who won gold at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, was on Tuesday cleared by an independent tribunal after she was charged with missing three missed drug tests in just over a month in 2019, due to a technicality and because one of the missed drug tests for which she was charged, was successfully challenged by her lawyers Dr. Emir Crowne and Matthew Gayle.
The Bahranian missed the tests on March 12 and 16 and April 12, 2019, six months before the start of the Doha World Championships. She was eventually provisionally suspended on June 5, 2020 following the investigation of a fourth missed test on January 24, 2020.
Miller-Uibo wants to know why her rival was not suspended once those initial three tests were missed in mid-2019.
"Why was no action taken?" asked Miller-Uibo in a lengthy post in Instagram Wednesday. "Why was the athlete not provisionally suspended until one year and two months later?"
"I cry foul play and believe there is a deeper explanation of how World Athletics ... allowed this to carry on.
“We need to ensure that in athletics, we the athletes are not competing against any administrators whose only goal is for athletes to run faster, jump further and throw further at any cost."
Miller-Uibo said she was concerned about whether World Athletics and the Athletics Integrity Unit are truly out to protect clean athletes.
“As senior administrators, their purpose is to protect and advance their athletes to the best of their abilities,” she said while indicating that the “recent turn of events” opens the door to many questions.
“How is it possible that this case lingered on until the World Championships?” she asked.
She said the Naser case and others like it “strengthens the need for an independent body to serve alongside the World Athletics-appointed representatives.”
“With the independent athletes’ body, more accountability will be given as we try our best to rebuild trust and integrity in our beloved sport,” she said.