KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Sports Minister Olivia Grange has appointed retired Court of Appeals judge Ransford Langrin to head the Jamaica Anti-Doping Appeals Tribunal, as the latest chapter in the athletics drugs scandal unfolded here.

The Appeals Tribunal will look into the appeal brought by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) against the Jamaica Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel who earlier this week cleared five Jamaican athletes of doping-related charges.

Grange appointed the tribunal in keeping with the requirements of the Anti-doping in Sport Act 2008.
The tribunal will also include retired Supreme Court judge Wesley James as the vice-chairman, Dr Mark Minott and Lisa Palmer, a deputy Public Prosecutor in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Yvonne Kong, a sports administrator and retired principal of the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, and Ali McNab are the other members who have been appointed for a three-year term.

Athletes Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson, Lansford Spence and Allodin Fothergill, who had all been named in Jamaica’s squad for the World Championships in Berlin, tested positive for 4-methly-2 hexanamine but a disciplinary panel said Monday they could not make a conclusive determination that the athletes had been in clear violation of the doping code.

A fifth athlete, Commonwealth Games 100 metres champion Sheri-Ann Brooks was cleared last week because of an irregularity.

JADCO hit back at the disciplinary panel’s ruling, noting that the drug was similar to that of one on the banned list.
“This substance is considered by WADA as being of similar chemical structure to tuaminoheptane which is listed as an example of a stimulant in the WADA 2009 prohibited list international standard,” JADCO said.
The controversy has virtually ruled the athletes out of the World Championships which start tomorrow.