BERLIN, August 12 – Former 100 metres world record holder Asafa Powell and women's 100m Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser were withdrawn from the Jamaican team for the World Championships at the request of their team chiefs, International Association of Athletics Federations secretary general Pierre Weiss announced on Wednesday.
They have been punished by the team directors because they refused to train with the main body of the team in Nuremberg, Germany, and stayed with their coach Stephen Francis at their Italian training camp in Lignano Sabbiadoro.
It will add to the turbulent build-up to the championships for the Jamaicans – who carried virtually all before them at the Olympic Games last year in the sprints – after five athletes failed a dope test but were subsequently cleared by their national anti-doping commission.