Tokyo 2020: World champion sprinter Christian Coleman to miss Olympics after two-year ban for ‘whereabouts failures’
- ‘We see this case as involving behaviour by the athlete as very careless at best and reckless at worst,’ says Athletics Integrity Unit
- Coleman’s representative says the decision is ‘unfortunate and will be immediately appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport’
World 100 metres champion Christian Coleman will miss next year’s Tokyo Olympics after being banned for two years for breaching whereabouts rules, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Tuesday.
The American, who narrowly escaped a ban last year for missing three doping tests, was provisionally suspended by the AIU in June.
“We regret to say that we do not think there is any mitigation which can fairly be relied upon to reduce the sanction from the two-year period,” the AIU said in a statement on its website.
“Unfortunately, we see this case as involving behaviour by the athlete as very careless at best and reckless at worst.”
Coleman’s representative Emanuel Hudson said in a statement the sprinter would appeal the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.