Christian Coleman OUT of next year’s Tokyo Olympics as world’s fastest man receives two-year suspension
ATHLETICS superstar Christian Coleman will MISS next summer’s Tokyo Olympics after he was handed a two-year ban for missing drugs tests.
In a damaging day for the sport, the world’s fastest man is ineligible to compete in track-and-field events until May 13, 2022, meaning he will not take part in the rescheduled Games in Japan.
Coleman’s agent, Emanuel Hudson of HSInternational Sports Management, said: “The decision of the Disciplinary Tribunal established under the World Athletics rules is unfortunate and will be immediately appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“Mr Coleman has nothing further to say until such time as the matter can be heard in the Court of jurisdiction.”
The Atlanta-born athlete has a history of missing tests, having escaped a ban on a technicality in 2019 before winning gold at the Doha Athletics World Championships.
The AIU charged Coleman, 24, in June 2020 for three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period.
One related to a missed test on January 16, 2019, which he did not contest. But Coleman did dispute the filing failure on April 26, 2019 and the missed test on December 9, 2019.
For the first one, it was claimed the athlete only updated his whereabouts information – he was training in the State of Iowa – after a doping officer attended his home residence in Lexington, Kentucky, and then called his mobile.
Last December, two drug-busters reportedly “rang the bell and knocked loudly” on Coleman’s apartment door for over an hour – while the runner was out Christmas shopping nearby.
The AIU rejected Coleman’s “impossible” explanation of events that he had returned home briefly during the allocated one-hour time period, ate a purchased chipotle, watched the start of a Monday night NFL game, and then went out again.
The AIU say receipts showing he had bought 16 items from Walmart disproved his claims he had popped home.
At the time of his provisional suspension, Coleman had complained that the AIU’s doping control officers had not called him on that night weeks before Christmas.
The AIU said in its judgement that doping control officers were not required to phone athletes.
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The AIU report said: “The consequences for athletes who are subject to three missed tests are draconian.
“But rather than learn from his experience with USADA, the athlete’s attitude to his obligations can fairly be described as entirely careless, perhaps even reckless.
“We understand that it is very difficult for a young man, blessed with the prodigious talent which the athlete obviously has, to find himself suddenly at the centre of the public gaze.
“But success of this nature, and the financial rewards that follow, also give rise to responsibilities that must be taken seriously and observed.”
Coleman, who maintains his innonence, has never failed a drugs test and the report added that there is no evidence that he has doped during his career.
It added: “For the avoidance of doubt, there is no suggestion that the athlete has ever taken any prohibited substance and we wish to make that clear at the outset.”
According to emails sent by his lawyer to USA Today, it is understood Coleman will appeal the ban imposed by the Athletics Integrity Unit through the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
But unless he wins that case he will sit out the Olympics next summer, opening the door for a potential British runner to win a medal.