US Olympic Champion Brianna Rollins has been suspended by the United States Anti-doping agency (USADA) for one year after failing three missed drug tests.
Rollins won the 100m hurdles at the Rio Olympics in a time of 12.48 seconds.
One of the missed drugs tests occurred when Rollins was meeting then US President Barack Obama at a ceremony honouring the US Olympians.
Another missed test saw the 25-year-old fail to attend a drug test during a ‘Brianna Rollins day’ in her hometown in Florida.
The ban means that Rollins will miss the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London this summer and will be banned from athletic competition until December 18th.
Rollins said the ban was one of the most difficult times of her career, especially coming after a great 2016 season.
USADA say Rollins failed to properly file her whereabouts to drug testers, a key requirement for most international athletes.
The results from Rollins’ 27 September test – the date of her third whereabouts failure – will be disqualified, meaning the world champion will be allowed to keep the Olympic medal she won in August.
“This is a difficult case because it involves the imposition of a serious penalty on a brilliant athlete who is not charged or suspected of using banned substances of any kind,” USADA said in the ruling.
