100m world champion Coleman suspended for anti-doping violation

 

100 metre world champion Christian Coleman has been provisionally suspended after he violated anti-doping rules by missing a third test.

The American sprinter, who won his first major title at the World Championships in Doha last year, has denied the claims from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

Coleman claims he was doing Christmas shopping “five minutes away”, and the tester did not try to contact him for his whereabouts.

The 24-year-old has penned an emotional letter on his social media channels, insisting he is completely clean.

“I have never and will never use performance enhancing supplements or drugs,” Coleman posted on social media.

“I am willing to take a drug test every single day for the rest of my career for all I care to prove my innocence.

“I have nothing to hide but it’s not possible to show that if I’m not even given a chance to.

“I’ve been contacted by phone literally every other time I’ve been tested. Literally, IDK (I don’t know) why this time was different.

“He even said he couldn’t hear the doorbell so why wouldn’t you call me? Why would AIU tell him not to contact me? He put down the wrong address btw (by the way) so who knows if he even came to my spot.”

Coleman previously missed a test on 16 January 2019, before experiencing a filing failure on 26 April 2019.

In a 12 month period, three whereabouts failures can result in the AIU hand out a ban for up to two years – but Coleman wants to see the system changed.

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He added: ”I thought the point of the organisation was to keep the sport clean by testing everyone and catching cheaters, not attempt to catch people when they’re not home and make no attempt to actually test them and mess with the livelihoods of people who are clearly not doping. “This isn’t justice for anybody.”