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Daily Mail, Friday, August 23, 2019
MATT
LAWTON
Chief Sports Reporter
EXCLUSIVE
Sprinting’s poster boy in fight
to clear name before Olympics
C
HRISTIAN Coleman,
the world’s fastest
man for the last
three years, is fight-
ing for his reputa-
tion over an alleged series of
missed drugs tests.
Top-level sources confirmed to
Sportsmail yesterday that the
23-year-old American, who was
given a seven-figure sponsorship
deal by Nike in 2017 after emerging
as the successor to Usain Bolt, is
disputing one of three whereabouts
failures it is claimed he has accumu-
lated over the last 12 months.
But if Coleman is unsuccessful in
having one of the three strikes
removed, he faces a lengthy ban
that would not only rule him out of
next month’s World Championships
in Qatar but the 2020 Olympics.
According to the United States
Anti-Doping Agency website: ‘Any
cumulation of three missed tests or
filing failures in a 12-month period
can result in a potential anti-doping
rule violation and a period of
ineligibility of up to two years for a
first violation.’
That would be a devastating blow
for a sport that was quick to make
Coleman one of the poster boys of
track and field in the wake of Bolt’s
retirement in 2017.
Last night there were also rumours
that other American sprinters
could have an issue with the where-
abouts system.
It is understood there are high-
level talks going on between World
Anti-Doping, United States Anti-
Doping and the IAAF’s athletics
integrity unit about the case, with
Coleman’s legal team disputing at
least one of the alleged where-
abouts violations. There appears tobe an issue because, while all missed
tests or whereabouts failures fall
under WADA’s anti-doping admin-
istration management system
(ADAMS), at least two different
testing bodies are thought to be
involved in Coleman’s case. A source
said: ‘There are certainly questions
that need to be answered here.’
Coleman, who was beaten to
100 metres gold at the World Cham-
pionships in London two years ago
by Justin Gatlin — twice banned for
doping himself — is favourite for
gold in Qatar and at Tokyo 2020.
He has already set a world record
over 60m indoors and became the
seventh fastest man in history lastyear when he
clocked 9.79sec for
100m, also record-
ing the fastest
time over the
distance for
the last three
seasons.
Coleman was
due to compete at the Birming-
ham Diamond League meeting last
Sunday but withdrew two days
before citing ‘complications occur-
ring after practice this week’.
Under the ADAMS system, ath-
letes have to provide details of
where they will be for one hour
every day in case they are required
for testing. A whereabouts failure
is classified as one of two types:
a filing failure or a missed test. The
specific circumstances surrounding
Coleman’s alleged whereabouts
failures are unclear.
Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu
served a 12-month ban in 2006, prior
to winning her Olympic gold and
two world 400m titles, following
whereabouts failures.
Sportsmail revealed that Sir Mo
Farah was on the cusp of a ban after
missing two tests prior to his
London 2012 success, the four-time
Olympic champion memorably
claiming he could not hear his door-
bell when UK Anti-Doping officials
repeatedly tried to reach him.
Athletes have proved successful in
contesting whereabouts failures in
the past. British cyclist Lizzie
Deignan — then Armitstead — was
facing a ban before the 2016 Rio
Olympics, but won a case at the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
shortly before the Games and had
one of her three strikes erased.
Sportsmail received no response
after repeated attempts to contact
Coleman’s agent in the US.Athletics
COLEMAN FACES
2-YEAR BAN FOR
‘MISSED TESTS’
Athletics will fear the worst
Big shoes to
fill: Coleman
is sprinting’s
biggest star
since Bolt
GETTY IMAGESHE WAS long scripted as the
heir to Usain Bolt but as of
yesterday it was rather
more difficult to predict the
line of succession to which
Christian Coleman will
eventually belong.
At this stage, it is too early to
make judgments about his
alleged missed tests, which
have been revealed by
Sportsmail. But one issue
Coleman will face as he makes
his case is that those who
follow athletics — closely or
passively — have been
conditioned to fear the worst.
He deserves a fair chance to
explain himself, but those who
run athletics ought to bescared stiff during the process.
Not just because it would be
such a bad look if
circumstances require that he
is absent from the World
Championships, which start in
Doha next month.
And not just because that
would be amplified 10-fold if
he is absent for this reason
from the Tokyo Olympics.
It is more because athletics,
at a time when it is scrapping
to stay relevant, desperately
needs stars who can be
believed. The sport is alreadyclose to the point of no return
in that regard. A good
argument could be made that
the IAAF have staged a far
stronger fight than any other
body against the multi-sport
problem of Russian doping, but
there have been so many
abuses of trust. So many
heroes who didn’t deserve the
tag or their medals.
For an illustration of the point,
look no further than the list of
contenders for the 100 metres
in Doha. If Coleman isn’t there,
the next favourite would likely
be Justin Gatlin, the reigning
champion. He beat Coleman
into second place at London
2017 and it was ratherdepressing
on that late
night when neither Coleman,
nor third-placed Bolt,
accepted invitations to explain
what an embarrassing
scenario it was to see a man of
prior doping convictions
crowned champion.
Since that silver medal,
Coleman has emerged at the
front of the new wave. He has
a personal best of 9.79sec in
the 100m, making him jointly
the seventh fastest in history.
Five of the men ahead of him
served doping bans at some
point or other.
Athletics might not be able to
swallow another loss.COMMENT
RIATH AL-SAMARRAI
Athletics Correspondent100m: THE TOXIC RACE
COLEMAN FACTFILE
Age: 23. Nationality: American.
100m PB: 9.79sec (August 2018)
200m PB: 19.85sec (May 2017)
World record, 60m indoor:
6.34sec (February 2018)
2017 World Championships:
Silver, 100m and 4x100m
2018 World Indoor
Championships: Gold, 60m÷÷÷IF Coleman is banned, eight of the
10 fastest 100m runners will have
been given drug suspensions...
1 USAIN BOLT (Jam) 9.58sec, 2009
Never linked to drugs
2 TYSON GAY (US) 9.69, 2009
Banned for steroids in 2013
3 YOHAN BLAKE (Jam) 9.69, 2012
Banned for stimulant in 2009
4 ASAFA POWELL (Jam) 9.72, 2008
Banned for stimulant in 2013
5 JUSTIN GATLIN (US) 9.74, 2015
Banned for drugs in 2001 and 2006
6 NESTA CARTER (Jam) 9.78, 2010
Banned for drugs in 2008
7 TIM MONTGOMERY (US) 9.78, 2002
Banned in 2005, time invalidated
8 CHRISTIAN COLEMAN (US) 9.79, 2018
Three alleged whereabouts failures
9 MAURICE GREENE (US) 9.79, 1999
Allegedly paid for steroids in 2003 and
2004, which he denies
10 BEN JOHNSON (US) 9.79, 1988
Banned for stanozolol, time invalidated