The American sprinter Christian Coleman, reigning world champion in the 100m, has been suspended for two years for failing to meet his anti-doping whereabouts obligations, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced on Tuesday.
Coleman, 24, is thus closed the door to the Tokyo Olympics, postponed to the summer of 2021 (July 23 - August 8) due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
He has 30 days to appeal.
Christian Coleman was provisionally suspended since May 14 for three breaches of his anti-doping whereabouts obligations on January 16, April 26 and December 9, 2019. His suspension will end on May 13, 2022, which will deprive him of the Games but a priori not of the Worlds from Eugene (Oregon) postponed to summer 2022.
Three breaches, up to two years of suspension
Very high-level athletes are subject to scrupulous location obligations (address, training courses, training, competitions), in addition to providing each day a time slot and a location in order to be tested unexpectedly.
Three breaches of these obligations (a failed check, the "no show", or imprecise information) in less than one year are punishable by two years of suspension.
The announcement of Coleman's suspension comes just a week after charges were dropped against Bahraini 400m world champion Salwa Eid Naser, who was being prosecuted for the same reasons.
Christian Coleman has dominated the world sprint since the retirement of Jamaican legend Usain Bolt in 2017. Flaming world champion in the 100m (9 sec 76) and the 4x100m relay in Doha in October 2019, he also has two other medals from world silver (over 100 and 4x100m in 2017) and holds the world record for the 60m indoor (6 sec 34).
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