Chat-bout.net - Shelly on her own

Shelly on her own

World's fastest Usain Bolt does not intend to follow the path of compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who last week threatened to strike if Jamaican athletes did not receive more protection from local track and field officials.

Fraser-Pryce admitted to being stung by recent comments in the international media and local officials, as the country battles to restore a battered image, following a spate of failed doping tests and claims of woeful inadequacies on the path of the local doping control body the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commisson. The athlete accused officials of looking out only for their interests, while doing very little to stand up for athletes on the international stage. Fraser-Pryce stated that she will be willing to not run until such issues are addressed.

But, although the two stood in unison to collect the IAAF World Athlete of the Year award on Friday in Monaco, the duo do not agree on how the issue should be resolved.

"It's hard for me to strike because it's my job," Bolt was quoted as saying in UK publication The Guardian.

"Shelly-Ann, you're on your own with that."

The double-world record holder and the world's most popular sprinter did admit to be being in a hurry to have the issues resolved, after claiming it recently cost him sponsorship income.

"I know we've been going through a lot when it comes to drug testing, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and the IAAF, but this is causing a lot of problems for me," he said.

"When a sponsor came up to us and was saying 'we'd like to sponsor you'. They then used an agency that does background checks to figure out if it's viable to sponsor you and it came back that Wada had said I would not be eligible to run at the next Olympics. That information is not correct, so there are a lot of things that are going on with this drugs thing that I really feel they need to clarify because, for me, it's causing problems for me when it comes to making money from my sport."

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