Dubai: Usain Bolt has urged sporting authorities to ‘do as much as they can to eliminate doping from sport’, yet will not be drawn on whether life bans should be meted out to drug cheats.
Bolt is also hopeful that athletics officials in his native country of Jamaica have addressed what US Anti-Doping Agency boss Travis Tygart believes is an inadequate testing system.
Six Jamaican athletes tested positive for banned substances in 2013, leading to the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission’s (Jadco) board resigning in November.
They included former 100m world-record holder Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson, an Olympic relay gold medallist at the 2004 Athens Games, both of whom had their doping bans reduced from 18 months to six months earlier this week and are free to compete immediately.
Bolt predicts there will not a repeat of the drug-testing crisis in his homeland, however, saying: “I think Jadco has some issues that they have now addressed, so hopefully things will be better in the future.”
The sprint superstar, who has previously supported hair follicle testing in a bid to stamp out the doping malaise, added: “I think it is important that the authorities do as much as they can to eliminate doping from sport. Athletics is one of the sports that is at the top level of testing, and you see a lot of athletes getting caught and punished. I think the same standards should be applied throughout all sports.”
