American sprinter Christian Coleman has defended himself and said he has “never failed a drug test and never will.”
Coleman, 23, had been charged with missing three drugs tests and was facing an automatic one-year ban.
But the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) withdrew the charge earlier this month after receiving guidance from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
“I put my heart and soul into track and field, and worked hard to get where I am today,” Coleman wrote on Instagram.
“It’s simply disrespectful when fake fans speculate and talk about drugs in relation to the great athletes we have in this sport.
“It does nothing but hold the sport back from the popularity I know it can reach in the future.
“I shouldn’t have to defend myself but for the first and last time I literally do not take any supplements or protein powders – nothing even legal to help with recovery.”
Coleman, who ran a world-leading time of 9.81 seconds in the 100m at the Diamond League in California in June, is free to compete at the World Athletics Championships, beginning in Doha on September 28, and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Usada had claimed Coleman had missed drugs tests on 6 June, 2018, as well as 16 January and 26 April of this year – with three missed tests in a 12-month period leading to a ban.
However, as the International Standard for Testing and Investigations (ISTI) states a “filing failure” relates back to the first day of the quarter, Coleman argued the first of those dates should be 1 April, 2018.
“I work hard at practice, drink water, rest, and work even harder the next day,” added Coleman.
“Therefore, I have never failed a drug test and never will. I’m the biggest advocate for clean sport because I know the sacrifice and what it takes to make it to this level.
“There have been a lot of inaccurate things said in the media over the past few weeks; it’s a shame we live in a world where [story] clicks equals money, yet people still believe everything they read. –BBC
