03/06/26 03:29:00
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03/06 15:27 CST Kerley receives 2-year whereabouts suspension, responds with
social media flurry ripping regulators
Kerley receives 2-year whereabouts suspension, responds with social media
flurry ripping regulators
By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
Sprinter Fred Kerley received a two-year ban Friday for missing drug tests ---
a suspension that shouldn't impact the 30-year-old former world champion
because he has signed to run in a league that does not prohibit performance
enhancers.
The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees doping cases for World Athletics,
announced the suspension, quoting from a ruling that called the 100-meter
champion in 2022 "'negligent and, to a certain extent, reckless'" in not
adhering to anti-doping regulations."
The decision said Kerley's missed tests occurred from May through December of
2024. Last September, he became the biggest name in sprinting to announce he
would run in the Enhanced Games, a start-up league that will not penalize
athletes for using banned substances.
Shortly after the ban was announced, Kerley released a flurry of social media
posts, one of which featured him and a picture of him bursting through a
phalanx of men dressed like military police wearing uniforms with "AIU," "WADA"
(World Anti-Doping Agency) and "USADA" (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) on them.
"I'm tired of holding everything in," it said. "You can't control me, and the
truth is louder than silence."
Another post, which could have been a reference to the doping-control officers
that arrived on one of the days he missed a test, said "A random number from
Mexico that looked like a scam call and I'm supposed to answer that? I live in
USA why is a number calling my phone from Mexico."
Kerley's suspension will run through Aug. 11, 2027.
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