World record holder Usain Bolt has criticised the decision to reduce Tyson Gay’s doping ban because he co-operated with the US Anti-Doping Agency. Gay and Bolt’s fellow Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell, both 31, failed drug tests in July 2013. Gay was given a one-year ban and Powell was initially suspended for 18 months. Bolt said: “It is sending a bad message into the sport that you can do it, but if you co-operate with us we’ll reduce the sentence.
Former 100m and 200m world champion Gay could have been banned for up to two years after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid but received a lighter penalty because of his co-operation. Powell, who tested positive for the banned stimulant oxilofrine, claimed his ruling was “unfair and unjust”, and said a legal supplement he took, Epiphany D1, was contaminated.
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