Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Williams may withdraw from World Champs team

Published:Tuesday | September 24, 2019 | 12:00 AMRachid Parchment - Assistant Sports Editor -
Briana Williams' legal representative, Dr Emir Crowne, ahead of the start of her anti-doping hearing for a positive test returned with traces of the banned substance Hydrochlorothiazide, on Monday.

Dr Emir Crowne, the legal representative of sprinter Briana Williams, says his client is considering voluntarily withdrawing from Jamaica's team to the IAAF World Championships which start on Friday in Doha, Qatar.

While the team is now in the Middle East getting ready for the nine day event, Williams has been in Jamaica attending her anti-doping hearing versus the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission for a positive test returned with traces of the banned substance Hydrochlorothiazide.

The hearing which started on Monday, ended on Tuesday afternoon, a day ahead of schedule, but Independent Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel chairman, Kent Gammon, says the decision will be announced at a date which he did not specify.

Crowne says he and his client had anticipated an expedited announcement, which would allow her time to travel and prepare for the 100m event, which starts on Friday. But now Crowne says since a decision is not forthcoming, his team or the IAAF may have to make an emergency appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland tomorrow, for a solution.

"We were hoping for a decision, or at least some commitment for a decision in advance of Thursday, but the panel wouldn't commit to that, and quite frankly, it leaves us in a bad spot," Crowne told reporters at the conclusion of the hearing on Tuesday afternoon.

"Now, where we are, is Miss Williams withdraws, which begrudgingly, she has agreed to do because we wouldn't want to end up in a situation that has happened in recent past where an athlete, after the fact, gets an anti-doping violation and Jamaica's relay medals are stripped from them. So Miss Williams is actually willing to voluntarily withdraw."

More on this story in Wednesday's Gleaner.