12 Nov 2013

Jamaican drug tester adds to ongoing problems in the country

7:10 am on 12 November 2013

Jamaica's most senior drug tester says the country's recent rash of failed tests might be the "tip of an iceberg".

Dr Paul Wright told the BBC that the Caribbean island's anti-doping regime has been woefully short of the international standards required.

His comments come a week after the World Anti-Doping Agency visited Jamaica to investigate claims that the country's athletes were not being tested rigorously enough.

Former Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission executive director Renee Anne Shirley sparked the crisis when she said the agency conducted just one out-of-competition test in the six months leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Asafa Powell, the former 100m world record holder, was the biggest name to test positive, but four others including Powell's training partner - the Olympic relay gold medallist Sherone Simpson - also failed tests at the country's national trials in June.