Four Jamaican sprinters face two year ban

FOUR Jamaican sprinters have admitted using a banned substance and face a suspension of up to two years.

 CONTRASTING FORTUNES: Sheri-Ann Brooks is cleared but Yohan Blake faces two year ban

Yohan Blake, Lansford Spence, Marvin Anderson and Allodin Fothergill have all admitted to taking the stimulant methylxanthine prior to the Jamaican National Championships in June.

All four appeared on Wednesday before an appeals tribunal put together by Jamaica's Sports Ministry  

The four athletes were forced to sit out the recent World Championships in Berlin, and while a disciplinary panel had initially cleared them, that ruling was appealed by the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission.

While methylxanthine is not on the World Anti-Dopiing Agency banned substance list, Jadco appealed on the grounds that it has a similar structure to tuaminoheptane, a banned stimulant according to Wada.

"The athletes have admitted they took a banned substance," said Jamaican Anti-Doping Appeals Tribunal (Jadco) chairman Ransford Langrin.

"We have to decide what is the sanction we apply - the minimum sanction is a reprimand or up to a two-year ban."

The tribunal cleared Sheri-Ann Brooks on Thursday because her backup sample was tested without her knowledge.