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(Reuters) – US sprinter Gabrielle Thomas said Friday that she expected the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) expected to be charged with being unable to be available for anti-doping tests.
Deajah Stevens, 23, a fellow American, was provisionally suspended by the AIU for allegedly missing three tests in a 12-month period, a violation of anti-doping regulations.
“I am confident that at least one of these missed tests is invalid and that I will be fully authorized,” said Thomas, a two-time 200m winner in the Lausanne Diamond League, in a statement made available to Reuters by his agent.
“The phone’s tracking data and multiple witnesses will conclusively show that I was at the exact location I established on my whereabouts and that the doping control officer simply could not locate me and did not follow proper protocol,” added Thomas.
“Athletes are subject to an incredibly high standard and doping control organizations are supposed to meet equally high standards.”
Stevens, who reached the 200-meter final of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, was not immediately available for comment.
The AIU also suspended Kenyan Alex Korio Oloitiptip, who participated in last year’s INEOS 1:59 challenge, in which his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge became the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours.
All three athletes could face a two-year ban.
The AIU also said on Friday that Mikel Kiprotich Mutai of Kenya, who won the 2016 Hong Kong marathon, was provisionally suspended for failing to pass a test for the banned substance norandrosterone.
(Report by Gene Cherry and Julien Pretot; Edited by Ken Ferris and Christian Radnedge)
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