(Reuters) – Jamaican Olympic relay silver medalist Sherone Simpson said on Sunday she had tested positive for a stimulant at last month’s national championships.
Simpson, 28, was a member of the Jamaican team that finished second in the 4×100 relay at last year’s London Olympics.
She finished equal second in the 100 meters at the 2008 Beijing Games and won a gold medal in the 4×100 relay four years earlier in Athens.
“This is a very difficult time for me,” Simpson said in a statement to Reuters.
“I was notified on July 14, 2013 that my urine sample taken at the National Senior Championship, June 21, 2013 after the 100m finals returned a positive analytical finding for a stimulant, oxilofrine (methylsynephrine).
“As an athlete, I know I am responsible for whatever that goes into my body. I would not intentionally take an illegal substance of any form into my system.”
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by John Mehaffey)
