Victor Conte lashes out on Jamaica’s anti-doping programme

Victor Conte, the man behind the BALCO drug scandal, has lashed out against Jamaica’s anti-doping programme.



In an open letter, Conte says his primary concern with Jamaica’s anti-doping program has been its lack of transparency.



Conte says he has openly and repeatedly criticised the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) for not routinely providing annual drug testing statistics as done in other countries.



Conte also described JADCO’s chairman, Dr Herb Elliott's, leadership in the five years since the organisation’s inception as poor.



Conte says only after the recent rash of positive drug tests, including those in relation to Jamaican Olympic sprinters Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson, has some partial drug testing data been released to the public.



Following the recent positive tests of the Jamaicans, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller had revealed that since 2009, there have been 16 adverse analytical findings among Jamaican athletes.



The Prime Minister also revealed that during the last five years, a total of 860 tests were conducted by JADCO with 504 tests conducted in competition and 356 tests conducted out of competition.



Conte says over the last five years, Jamaica’s major championship track and field teams have averaged about 50 athletes compared to 150 for the United States.



According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s website there were 2,279 tests performed on US track and field athletes in 2012 alone.



Conte says if all 106 tests performed in 2012 by JADCO were on track and field athletes, it cannot be considered adequate testing in comparison to the US and many other nations competing at the Olympic Games.



And he says he believes random out-of-competition tests are a far more effective use of Jamaica's available resources.



Conte further says the sudden rise to world dominance by numerous male and female Jamaican sprinters, coupled with such a significant number of positive drug tests, is highly suspicious.



He also says JADCO’s lack of drug testing transparency over the last five years has contributed to the cloud of doubt that exists regarding the legitimacy of their many astonishing performances.



Conte was the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative which was behind the biggest drug scandal in athletics history, which implicated sprinters and baseball stars.



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