World 100m champion Christian Coleman banned for two-years for evading anti-doping inspector

[ASFN Admin]

Christian Coleman, the world 100 metres champion, will miss next year's Olympics in disgrace after he was banned for two-years for repeatedly evading doping testers. A disciplinary tribunal at the Athletics Integrity Unit found Coleman, the fastest man in the world for three years, guilty of "three whereabouts failures in a 12-month period". The judgement against the sprinter says he amended his whereabouts retrospectively and offered conflicting evidence over a Christmas shopping trip. Coleman had almost missed the World Championships last year over a previous charge, but argued for the first offence to be backdated on a technicality. However, the AIU subsequently charged him with another missed test, on December 9, 2019. His fresh ban accounts for two missed drugs tests and a filing failure, but on Tuesday the AIU stated "there is no suggestion that the athlete has ever taken a prohibited substance". Imposing a two year ban on Tuesday, the AIU said "we regret to say that we do not think there is any mitigation that can be fairly relied upon to reduce the sanction from the two year period". The unit suggested that Coleman had been "reckless" in his attitude towards his responsibilities to the whereabouts filing system. "The consequences for athletes who are subject to three missed tests are draconian," a statement said. "But, rather than learn from his experience with USADA [The US Anti-Doping Agency], the athlete's attitude to his obligations can fairly be described as entirely careless, perhaps even reckless." Athletes are required to list their whereabouts for an hour each day when they must be available to be tested. A violation means an athlete either did not fill out forms telling authorities where they could be found, or they were not where they said they would be when testers arrived. In its report, the AIU said that on Apr 26 2019 Coleman had failed to update his details that he would be in Iowa rather than at home in Kentucky when testers came calling. "The athlete did not update his whereabouts information until after the DCO (tester) had attended at his residence in Lexington to test him," the report says. It indicates he later backdated information on timings after speaking to testers. "The athlete's updated whereabouts information for 26 April specified a time which had already passed, so that in the end no valid 60-minute slot remained for that day at all," the report said. "Therefore, we are satisfied the athlete committed a filing failure on 26 April 2019." The panel also dismissed Coleman's explanation for how he came to miss a test on Dec 6 last year due to Walmart receipts the inquiry obtained while inspectors were trying to test him. Coleman had told the AIU he would have been available if testers had called him and he had returned home within the allocated time to eat chipotle and watch football on television. He claimed he was Christmas shopping "five minutes away" from home and the tester made no effort to contact him. "Don't tell me I 'missed' a test if you sneak up on my door (parked outside the gate and walked through... there's no record of anyone coming to my place) without my knowledge," said Coleman. "Knocked while I was Christmas shopping five minutes away at the mall (I have receipts and bank statements) and didn't even bother to call me or attempt to reach me. I was more than ready and available for testing and if I had received a phone call I could've taken the drug test and carried on with my night." However, the AIU said a phone call was not a requirement and that it usually asks employees not to call athletes because it could undermine the testing programme. His claimed timeline of activities that evening also did not match the receipts from his shopping trip, AIU chair Charles Hollander QC wrote. "The athlete purchased 16 items from the Walmart Supercenter at 8.22pm, therefore only seven minutes after the end of his one-hour slot and the kick off of the football match he claims to have watched," the report adds. After winning the world title last year, Coleman was dismissive when asked about receiving criticism for missing tests, suggesting he did not place great importance on the anti-doping whereabouts system. "It's just not something I think about every day," he said. However, the disciplinary panel ruled that testers were under no obligation to “invite an athlete to come for testing”. Coleman is yet to comment but the indoor 60m world record holder has 30 days to file an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

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