Dear Editor,

MY position remains the same as it has over the years, that whenever an athlete fails a drug test, they must accept the ban handed out by the authorities. I am all for clean sports.Cyclist Alanzo Greaves has been known to me over the years from working in the fields. He is part of my coverage I did and he is a household name, because he stood out as an athlete for many reasons. I was disappointed when the news broke sometime in early 2016 that he had failed a drug test with other foreign cyclists from Barbados and Colombia.
I will say publicly that he has never failed to display respect to the highest level. That he gets a perfect 10 across the board. I read the press reports that he was handed a one-year ban by RADO and thought they were considerate. Perhaps the consideration was because of this being his first offence. I believe everyone was expecting that he would have been served with a four-year ban, which is stipulated by UCI. After the year ban was completed, it was a joy to witness his presence once again in late 2016 and early 2017 as a clean athlete on the circuit. My honest opinion is that the level of the game was taken one notch up, because I felt the game needed the competition and he knows how to put on a show. Never did anyone mention to me or was I aware that WADA had an appeal filed sometime in mid-2016 against the one-year ban. I almost fell through the floor after reading the press reports. I wish if someone had mentioned it to me, because I would have suggested to Alanzo Greaves that you will lose against WADA, you will get the maximum penalty and just don’t take to the track until the appeal result was made public.

Yours Faithfully
T. Pemberton