Dear Editor,

I am, like most Jamaicans, feeling down regarding the news that our esteemed athlete Veronica Campbell Brown has been found to have a banned substance in her system. This substance is not a steroid, like nandrolone or testosterone, it is a substance that makes one urinate a lot. People who have high blood pressure can be given water pills to help regulate pressure and also to reduce swelling in the feet and ankles.

Diuretics, like the one found in furosemide/lasix, taken by an individual has the most significant effect in the first two hours and will continue for another six hours; so it will remain in your system for up to eight hours. The point must be made in the media and elsewhere that VCB’s case is about water pills.

My take therefore is that even if the drug was taken at midnight the day before a race, the following day, by eight o’clock the effects and presence of the drug would have disappeared and none of these top acts run early in the morning at a Jamaican meet.

I do not think she was hiding this substance or taking a banned steroid or other known performance-enhancing drug, since top athletes are tested rigorously, randomly and regularly.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules are very clear and have strict liability with a detailed list of prohibitions. So as a top-tier athlete (TTA) one has to be careful what one eats , drinks, inhales, rubs on the skin, or even who shakes your hand or touches you. It is a tough life, that most do not realise. It is part of the mystique of a Usain Bolt who seems to keep on moving and enjoy his life going wherever he wants, doing whatever he wants with whomever he chooses, making it look easy. The fact is that, in Jamaica, our TTAs are safer at home; everyone wishes them well as long as they remain respectful to the people.

Veronica is one of those wonderful human beings to meet, her humility and good Jamaican country manners, with no hype as a TTA, are impressive.

As we share her pain, we hope she remembers that as an athlete there is no gain without pain, and she will get through this one. .

Michael Spence

Liguanea, Kingston 6

micspen2@hotmail.com