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Ottey cleared of drug charges

Merlene Ottey has been cleared of doping charges by the International Amateur Athletic Federation arbitration panel.

Ottey had tested positive for nandrolone, one of the stereoids on the banned list, last August. At the time, Ottey said she was innocent, and was later cleared by the Jamaican athletic federation.

The IAAF however referred the case to arbitration. And in the meantime, she was banned from participation in international competitions.

Now -- to the embarassment of the IAAF -- the three-member arbitration committee has ruled that the athlete is cleared of the charges. The committee found that the testing laboratory in Lausanne had not taken into account factors relating to the concentration or dilution of the urine sample in question. And ruled that the reported levels of nandrolone was inside the prescribed limit of five nanograms/ml.

The 40-year-old Jamaican, thus, is now free to run in the Sydney Olympics. Meanwhile, all eyes are on the arbitration hearings, scheduled for later this month, involving similar charges against Linford Christie, Dougie Walker and Gary Cadogan, all British athletes who have tested positive for nandrolone.