Jamaica introduces blood sample collection

The Jamaican Anti-Doping commission had added blood samples to their testing regimen in the country.

Prior, JADCO only tested urine samples, a practice criticized as ineffective in the country’s battle against performance enhancing drugs. Beginning in June, the country’s anti-doping agency began collecting blood samples of athletes to better detect banned substances, some of which only appear in blood tests and were undetectable in urine samples.

The organization, in March 2014, introduced the use of the new biological passport, meaning blood samples were not far from introduction. The biological passport is used to track longer trends and changes in an athlete’s samples rather than simply individual samples to catch anomalies.

The country, since the 2012 Olympics, has made a large investment in fighting what some believe to be rampant doping in the Caribbean country known for dominating sprinting events. The change is being assisted by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, Canada’s equivalent anti-doping agency.

Leading up to the London Olympics it was revealed Jamaican athletes were subjected to almost zero out-of-competition drug testing in the country. They were tested while competing outside of Jamaica, but not at home.

Since then, JADCO has been revamped and strengthened. There are now 18 anti-doping offices in the country and, in 2013, former world-record holder Asafa Powell and Olympic gold-medallist Sherone Simpson tested positive for banned substances and served suspensions. Powell over the weekend, back from his suspension, won the Jamaican championships 100m in 9.84, ranking him second-fastest in the world in 2015, behind Justin Gatlin and tied with Trayvon Bromell, both of the United States.