Jarrett... back in form after two-year break. - File JAMAICAN SPRINTER Patrick Jarrett made a welcome return to the track after a two-year absence to strike gold at yesterday's IAAF/Goteborg Grand Prix meeting in Sweden.
The Jamaican, who was missing in action after he was found guilty of drug abuse, took the 100m sprint in 10.35 seconds. He finished ahead of the Swedish pair of Patrik Lovgren (10.69) and Aham Okeke (10.80).
Jarrett, 25, was found guilty of a doping offence under Sections 55.2 and 60.1 of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) rules. He tested positive for the banned substance stanozolol at the National Championships in June 2001 and had to serve a two-year ban from the sport.
This is the same substance Jamaican-born Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was guilty of taking at the Seoul, South Korea Olympics of 1988.
Jarrett was tested after finishing second to Chris Williams in the 100m at the 2001 Jamaican National Championships to earn himself a place in the team for the coming World Championships in Edmonton, Canada.
The former Farmingdale High (US) student was not a happy man when he heard the news.
"I'm not satisfied with the results," Jarrett said in an interview on September 19, 2001.
"They (the five-man panel headed by Dr. Alfred Sangster) obviously disregarded a lot of things at the time of the testing. A lot of guidelines were broken and they refused to make mention of them or even take them into consideration," he said.
In May 2001, Jarrett (wind-aided 9.89 seconds) appeared to jump the gun before racing to an upset over runner-up Tim Montgomery and World and Olympic champion Maurice Greene, Bernard Williams, Jon Drummond and Shawn Crawford, all of whom represented America at the Prefontaine Classic grand prix meeting in Oregon. In the same month, he also beat Barbadian Olympic bronze medallist Obadele Thompson at the Barbados Classic in Bridgetown.
