St. Kitts & Nevis sprinter Tameka Williams has been sent home from the London Olympics by her team for a potential drug violation.
Williams had been using a substance which was “clearly outside the medical code,” St. Kitts Olympic committee vice president Dennis Knight told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Knight said Williams had not tested positive, but the team acted after consulting with the World Anti-Doping Agency “to find out about the product.”
“In discussions with our team management, she volunteered to them that she had been using a particular substance which, when we did our own investigations, we considered to be outside the accepted medical code,” Knight said.
In a Press Release to the national media dated 28/7/12, Knight said the athlete had been sent home.
“The St. Kitts and Nevis Olympic Committee (SKNOC) has withdrawn sprint athlete, Tameka Williams, from its 2012 Olympic Team, effective, Saturday 28th July. She has left the Olympic Village for St. Kitts and Nevis.
In discussion with team management, Ms. Williams volunteered information to the effect that she has been using a substance which the SKNOC considers to fall outside the internationally accepted Medical Code.
All the necessary bodies have been duly notified.
This matter will be concluded pending further investigations,” the Release concluded.
Williams told team officials about using the substance — which the team has not disclosed — in a pre-Olympics training camp.
“It was a matter of the management of the team doing their due diligence,” Knight said.
The 22-year-old Williams had qualified for the 100 and 200 meters, and gave samples for anti-doping tests at national Olympic trials last month.
“It was not based on any positive drug test. She turned up a clean test,” Knight said.
Williams marched at the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday as the only woman in a seven-member team from the Caribbean islands, who are all track sprinters. The best known is five-time Olympian Kim Collins.
Knight said St. Kitts team officials sought expert advice in London before acting.
“We wanted to consult with the anti-doping fraternity,” he said. “We are a very tiny country with limited knowledge of these things.
Meanwhile, Tameka’s Track and Field Coach Eric Francis is threatening to sue the local Olympic Committee for withdrawing Tameka from the XXX Olympiad in London. “We are now seeking legal proceedings with respect to her expulsion from the Olympic team and the libellous and derogatory comments by members of the SKAAA and SKNO indicating that Tameka is using performance enhancing drugs,” Francis told WINN, Sunday.
Source: Freedom FM
