US Edition The entire board of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission, including its chairman, Dr Herb Elliot, has resigned just weeks after its activities were inspected by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Announcing a wholesale restructuring of the organisation, Natalie Neita-Headley, the Jamaican Minister for Sport, said on Friday that the resignation of board members was necessary because of the public perception of a conflict of interests. They will step down on Dec 31.
Neita-Headley met with WADA officials at the end of last month when they visited the Caribbean island to carry out an “extraordinary audit” of JADCO’s anti-doping programme.
The investigation followed revelations by Renee Anne Shirley, JADCO’s former executive director, that the organisation had carried out just one out-of-competition drug test in the five months leading up to the London Olympics.
In an interview with Telegraph Sport, Shirley also claimed that JADCO had never carried out a blood test and was suffering from a chronic staff shortage.
Six Jamaican track and field athletes have tested positive for banned substances this year, including three-time Olympic gold medallist Veronica Campbell-Brown and Olympic relay gold medallists Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson.
JADCO has also been hit by further controversy recently after the Wall Street Journal questioned the legitimacy of Elliot’s master's degree in chemistry from Columbia University and his medical degree and PhD in biochemistry from Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.
Elliot dismissed the claims but said last week that he was prepared to resign as chairman to preserve JADCO’s reputation.