TT sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye, 27, will miss out on the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan after receiving a two-year ban by the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federation) on Tuesday morning.

In a 22-paged document, the federation’s Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said the ban was a result of "whereabouts failure" _- a violation of its Anti-Doping Rules. The AIU was established in 2017 to "protect the integrity of athletics, including fulfilling the IAAF’s obligations."

According to article 2.14 of the rules, whereabouts failure is "any combination of three missed tests and/or filing failures, as defined in the international standard for testing and investigations, within a twelve-month period."

But the sprinter is claiming she was unable to hear knocks on her door and the ringing of her apartment’s doorbell on the date scheduled for the final test which led to her penalisation. The 2018 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist missed three tests on June 23, 2018, February 23, 2019 and April 19, 2019. She was also provisionally suspended from athletics by the federation last September because of this, which prevented her from competing in the 2019 IAAF World Championships held in Doha, Qatar.

Reasons given for absences

The document said the sprinter sent a letter on July 4, 2018, explaining why she missed the test on June 23, 2018.

She said, "Firstly, I must apologise for not being where I had indicated on my previous whereabouts form.

"I planned to leave for the Trinidad Championships at a later time that day, but had to change my flight late the night before, due to personal reasons. Consequently, I did not update my whereabouts form, as I was rushing around all night and in the morning prior to flying to Trinidad."

The letter continued, "I understand that whereabouts compliance is a factor for all athletes and this occasion for me was unique. I will endeavour to comply with the AIU and whereabouts filing going forward."

The document also said Ahye was notified of the initial, provisional suspension on August 30, 2019 but denied the charge on September 2, 2019. She then requested a personal hearing before a tribunal to "advance and develop the explanation she had offered through her attorney (Howard Jacobs)."

The hearing was held last December via video call as it included individuals who were in the US, Sweden and London. Ahye and Jacobs were in California, US.

During this, the AIU told her the information in the letter about her absence on June 23, 2018 "could not have possibly been correct" as she was competing in Trinidad at the time. The National Open Championships were held from June 22 to June 24 that year.

She did not challenge this point. She was then cross-examined and it was agreed the e-mail was wrong and misleading.

The AIU ruled the second missed test as "administrative muddle" and no fault of the athlete.

But when it came to the final missed test, the doping control officer, only referred to as "Mr Thomas," gave an account of his unsuccessful attempt at contacting her. Thomas said he arrived at Ahye’s apartment at around 6 am on April 19, 2019. Ahye had said she’d be available for testing 6 am and 7 am that day. He claimed he knocked loudly and rang the doorbell several times but to no avail. He also said he called Ahye’s phone, showing the call log on his phone as evidence. He eventually left at 7 am.

But Ahye e-mailed the AIU on May 3, 2019, saying, ""Missed test I was home on that day you can not knock on the door because I would not hear it my room is all the way on the 3rd level that’s why there is a doorbell. This miss (sic) test is not my fault because I was home."

At the tribunal, she provided a printed document dated March 24, 2019 in which she was complaining to her landlord about being unable to hear the doorbell from her bedroom. The document also claimed it was fixed on March 27, 2019.

The AIU rejected these explanations, adding that she provided no explanation for not answering Thomas’ phone calls.

But Jacobs said the officer could have spoken to other people on the compound to try getting in contact with his client.

The AIU retained its stance, saying Thomas reasonably did all he could.

The document said, "We find that the athlete has failed to establish that no negligent behaviour on her part caused or contributed to her failure to be available for testing at the location she had announced during the time slot she had given."

It said Ahye lacks formal doping education.