Athletes Must Educate Themselves – Sports Minister

Youth, Sports and Culture Minister, Hon. Olivia Grange, has stressed the need for Jamaica’s athletes to educate themselves on the list of substances which have been banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
Her comment comes in the wake of the five athletes testing positive for traces of a stimulant, which was found in their systems, following Jamaica’s National Athletics Championships in Kingston in June, and who were charged for using an illegal substance.
Addressing the Future Leadership Jamaican Diaspora Conference at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge, University of the West Indies, Mona, on August 7, Miss Grange described the incident as a “challenge,” for which there was a protocol for investigation.
“There is a process, and at the end of that process, we will know the truth, and we will have to deal with either the positive , or the negative (implications). But the fact remains that we do not support dope in sports. Sometimes, what is referred to as dope may be, under normal conditions, medication that you take. But every athlete has to be careful. That athlete has to be educated in what is on a list as a banned substance,” she said. One of the athletes has since been cleared of the charge.
Miss Grange expressed the hope that Jamaica would recover from this setback, which “will not detract from the fact that we are the sprint factory of the world. We have the fastest man in the world and the fastest women in the world. We are a great little country with a great people.”