From The Guardian

• Simpson tested positive for oxilofrine last year

• Cannot compete until 20 December this year

Sherone Simpson, the Jamaican sprinter, will appeal her 18-month drug ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The 2004 Olympic 100m relay champion received the suspension, backdated to 21 June 2013, from a disciplinary panel of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old tested positive for oxilofrine at the Jamaican trials last year. The ban means she will be ineligible to compete until December 20 this year, ruling her out of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July.

Her agent, Paul Doyle, said Simpson will appeal. “We feel that this ruling is incredibly unjust and we will be appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport immediately,” he said in a statement to Press Association Sport.

The panel ruled the athlete had been “negligent in all the circumstances”, it was reported.

Simpson, who also has two Olympic silver medals, has always protested her innocence, claiming she did not intentionally take the banned stimulant.

She has blamed the positive test on a supplement provided by her Canadian trainer Chris Xuereb, who has claimed he had been made a scapegoat.

Doyle added: “Sherone took a legal supplement that was contaminated with oxilofrine. Two different labs that we commissioned to test the supplement both determined that oxilofrine was present and that it was not declared on the label.”

He added: “Typically in such a case, the athlete is given a punishment ranging from a public warning to three months of ineligibility.”

Simpson’s compatriot and training partner Asafa Powell, the former 100m world record holder, also tested positive for the same substance at the Jamaican trials. The highly anticipated ruling on his case is expected on Thursday.

PHOTO: Sherone Simpson’s ban is backdated to 21 June 2013. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

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http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/apr/08/sherone-simpson-18-month-drug-ban