Oh no, not Nesta!
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Contrary to persistent rumors, multiple relay gold medallist Nesta Carter has not failed a drugs test and is preparing for upcoming meets, including the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia next month, his agent Adrian Laidlaw told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.
Carter, who ran a season’s best 9.87 seconds to win a 100m race in Madrid, Spain on Saturday, making him the fastest Jamaican man this year and second only to under fire American sprinter Tyson Gay, was linked in several international media houses with failed drugs tests starting on Sunday.
Fresh on the heels of announcements on Sunday that Gay had pulled out of the World Championships after admitting he had failed an out of competition drug test in May and that five Jamaicans, including Carter’s MVP teammates Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson, Carter’s name was also linked.
Several media houses and Internet sites had published his name, but Laidlaw told the Observer yesterday that “Nesta has not failed any drug test”.
The Florida-based Laidlaw, who is also agent for Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, said: “Carter has been training well and competing well as we all saw from his run in Spain last weekend.”
Carter, who finished a disappointing fourth in the men’s 100m at the JAAA National Senior Trials in June in 10.14 seconds after running 9.97 seconds in the semi-finals, is scheduled to compete next weekend in the London Anniversary Games at the Olympic stadium in east London.
News broke on Sunday that Powell and Simpson had returned positive tests for the stimulant ‘oxilofrine’ (methylsynephrine), while Gay admitted to failing a drug test but the drug has not been identified.