Team USA sprinter Fred Kerley is suspended under anti-doping rules in latest shameful moment for Olympian
The provisional suspension cites Kerley's 'whereabouts failures' without going into further details. Typically, whereabouts failures result from an athlete neglecting to meeting testing obligations, which can include a range of procedural issues from failing to provide up-to-date location information to missed tests.
Kerley, 30, indicated that the alleged violations relate to missed tests – an accusation he rejects, according to a statement from his attorneys at the Law Offices of Howard L. Jacobs.
'Fred Kerley has already notified the AIU that he intends to contest the allegation that he has violated the anti-doping rules related to whereabouts failures,' the statement begins.
Kerley's representatives say the two-time Olympic medalist 'strongly believes that one of [or] more of his alleged missed tests should be set aside either because he was not negligent or because the Doping Control Officer did not do what was reasonable under the circumstances to locate him at his designated location.'
The statement concluded by explaining Kerley will 'not comment further at this time out of respect for the process,' adding that he 'looks forward to presenting his case to the appointed hearing panel.
'You can try to break me in the storm, but all you´re doing is giving me a better story at the finish line,' Kerley later posted on X.
However, Kerley has since released his own statement on Instagram insisting he does not use performance-enhancing drugs and the allegations against him relate to missed tests.
'Let's discuss the facts: I have never used performance enhancing drugs,' he wrote online. 'My provisional suspension is over "whereabouts" allegations, which means missed testing appointments, not a failed drug test.
'We're challenging these claims, as at least one alleged missed test should not count,' he continued. 'I will fight for my name and my legacy. I've faced storms before and come out stronger. This will be no different!'
Kerley's provisional suspension is temporary and a final decision will be made at a future hearing.
A San Antonio native, Kerley won silver in the 100 meters at the 2020 Olympics and bronze in the same event last summer in Paris. He was also a member of Team USA's 4X100 relay team that won gold at the 2022 World Championships.
Kerley announced his conversion to Islam in July: 'They tried to break me, Allah rebuilt me'
But Kerley's success on the track has been followed by a tumultuous 2025 that included an arrest on a battery charge in May for allegedly striking hurdler Alaysha Johnson with a closed fist. Johnson was left with a bloody nose, according to a Fort Lauderdale police report.
At the time, Kerley's attorney Richard Cooper told reporting media that his client has a 'target on his back,' which he blamed on jealous competitors.
'We ask the public not to rush to judgment as the exculpatory facts eventually come to light,' Cooper said. 'Fred looks forward to getting back to competing and away from distractions as his legal team works to resolve these accusations.'
Months earlier, Kerley was accused of punching a Miami Beach police officer before being tasered, and in 2024, his wife accused him of domestic battery, according to court records.
Kerley's attorneys have insisted he is also innocent of those charges.
This summer has been particularly eventful for Kerley, who announced last month he planned on skipping the 2025 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships because he was 'taking some time out to get back on track.'
He also announced his conversion to Islam.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Michael Phelps is right. USA Swimming's failure runs deeper than medals
In three years' time, the swimming programme for the Los Angeles Olympics will unfold over nine days and nights on the grandest stage the sport has ever known. A purpose-built pool inside SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will be the centerpiece of a 38,000-capacity open-air natatorium, transforming the $5bn home of the NFL's Rams and Chargers into what's said to be the largest swimming venue in history. For the United States, a rare Summer Games on home soil should be a coronation, a chance to showcase the depth of its talent in the country's most spectacular arena. Yet Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of them all, fears the US swimming program is in no shape to seize the moment. Phelps has launched a withering attack on USA Swimming's leadership, accusing it of 'weak' stewardship, 'poor operational controls' and presiding over years of organizational drift. The 23-times Olympic gold medalist said he would think twice about letting his own sons join the system in its current state. His concerns, he says, stretch back to his own competitive career, when athlete voices were too often brushed aside in the name of keeping the peace and presenting a united front. 'This isn't on the athletes,' he wrote in a lengthy Instagram statement. 'This is on the leadership of USA Swimming.' The decline he sees is cultural and structural as much as competitive. In 2016, Phelps was part of a US swim team in Rio that, by his measure, was 'arguably the most successful in the sport's history', winning 57% of the medals available in the pool. Eight years later in Paris, that share fell to 44% – the lowest for Team USA since the 1988 Olympics – a downtick he cites as evidence the cracks in the system have widened. An open letter he sent earlier this year to USA Swimming, co-signed by other medallists, world record holders, coaches and staff, was, he says, ignored. His prescription is sweeping: an independent review of the board, improved athlete services and renewed grassroots investment to reverse flagging membership. Other greats share his alarm. The 12-times Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte recently posted a meme, also shared by Phelps, likening USA Swimming to an interred corpse, while three-time Olympic champion and NBC analyst Rowdy Gaines has gone public with his concerns in an op-ed for Swimming World magazine. Gaines calls the organization's year-long absence of a CEO a 'leadership void' at the worst possible time. He warns that even the table-topping nine gold medals won at this summer's world championships in Singapore – despite the severe gastroenteritis outbreak that badly compromised the US team – should not mask 'deeper structural issues under the surface'. Both men see LA 2028 as a deadline: the last chance to repair the system before the lights go up in Inglewood. Notably, Phelps's broadside does not directly address the most damaging area of USA Swimming's recent history: its handling of sexual abuse, harassment and athlete safeguarding. Earlier this year, incoming CEO Chrissi Rawak resigned after just nine days when the organization learned of an undisclosed SafeSport complaint against her from her coaching days. The US Center for SafeSport itself, which handles such allegations, has been in an ongoing state of turmoil: its own chief executive was dismissed amid scrutiny of hiring practices, including an investigator who himself was later charged with multiple sex crimes, including rape, sex trafficking and soliciting prostitution. Survivors have reported retraumatization through flawed investigations, and their trust in both SafeSport and USA Swimming's vetting processes remains fragile at best, if not fractured beyond repair. These controversies form the unspoken backdrop to Phelps's and Gaines's governance concerns. Their focus is on performance, leadership and resources, but the weaknesses they describe – poor oversight, slow action, lack of accountability – are the same flaws critics have long identified in the organization's handling of abuse cases. If USA Swimming cannot convincingly address either set of problems, the sport risks arriving at the once-in-a-lifetime platform of a home Games with not only a competitive deficit, but a deficit of credibility. A home Olympics is an exceptional and defining moment for any sport. For American swimming, LA 2028 offers the chance to inspire a new generation, boost grassroots participation and cement the sport's place in a crowded US sporting landscape. It is also, as Gaines notes, a one-shot opportunity: miss it and the momentum may be lost for decades. That is why the absence of a clear vision, not least a permanent leader, concerns those who understand both the stakes and the clock. SoFi Stadium may promise the grandest stage in Olympic history, but whether USA Swimming will be ready for it remains an open question.
Daily Record
4 hours ago
- Daily Record
Spiky Brendan Rodgers rails against Celtic transfer question as simmering 'frustration' emerges
Rodgers wasn't happy with transfer questioning moments after his side's impressive victory over Falkirk Irked Brendan Rodgers has shut down questions over potential incomings during a spiky post-match interview after seeing off Falkirk. And the Celtic boss insists that, if he can't get new signings in the door before next week's Champions League clash with FC Kairat, he'll happily go into it with the squad he has. Rodgers watched his side comfortably dismantle the Bairns to book a spot in the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup but it wasn't long before the post-match questioning led to their transfer business, or lack thereof. BBC Sportsound's Alasdair Lamont quizzed about any potential incomings before the Champions League showdown. But a frustrated Rodgers replied: "I don't know, I have just come out of the game here. We will wait to see, we have named the squad before the gam. if not that is the squad that we are going with." Pressed on if he was optimistic about getting any deals done, he said: "Ok, let me repeat what I have just said. I have just finished the game. During the 90 odd minutes of the game, I don't know anything. I don't know anything. There might be, but there may not be, but we have the team that we have." Speaking immediately after the terse exchange, pundit Pat Bonner heard some 'frustration' in Rodgers' voice as he said: "Al (Lamont) has got to ask the questions, that is what is job is. The manager obviously has no information for him, and he will be getting a little bit frustrated because this question is going to be asked from now until the end of the window." Rodgers though was a happier customer on TV after the game as he told Premier Sports: "Our whole idea is to be as prepared as we can by the end of the window. "Of course I'd love to have other players in, you saw tonight we had a midfield player wide and putting Scalesy into certain positions as well. So we need reinforcements. But I don't want to keep harping on about it. "I don't need to beg for players that we need. We work with the players who are here, they're doing great, and hopefully we'll get reinforcements by the end." Follow Record Sport on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-the minute breaking news, video and audio on the SPFL, the Scotland national team and beyond. You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here.
Rhyl Journal
5 hours ago
- Rhyl Journal
Keely Hodgkinson admits injury absence since Olympics has been upsetting
The 23-year-old has not raced since claiming gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics after sustaining a hamstring injury in February, then suffering setbacks – twice-postponing her season debut. Hodgkinson will return to the track on Saturday in the 800 metres at the Silesia Diamond League meet, though Hodgkinson's signature event is not a 'diamond' discipline in Poland. 'It's been a frustrating year for real,' said Hodgkinson, who still hopes to be in fighting shape for the world championships in Tokyo, now less than one month away. A post shared by 🌪 (@ 'Coming back into June, not being able to do anything and it had been so long, coming off the back of winning the Olympics last year, not ideal at all that I couldn't even get on the start line. 'It's definitely been a bit upsetting at times. Missing London was hardest for me, because it was so good last year. I just wanted to be there in front of my home crowd, especially coming back after the Olympics. 'It's been frustrating but it makes the good times sweeter and it makes it even better to be here now. 'I think tomorrow is just a stepping stone on the way there. I'm looking forward to getting out there, just being competitive again. I've come out ready to go, so I'm just excited to put something together.' Hodgkinson was forced to pull out of the inaugural edition of her eponymous Keely Klassic event in February, then the Stockholm and London Diamond Leagues. "It's been a frustrating year"@keelyhodgkinson on battling back from injury in 2025.#DiamondLeague#SilesiaDL🇵🇱 — Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) August 15, 2025 It was at the latter last season that Hodgkinson set a new national record of one minute 54.61 seconds in the 800 metres, weeks before becoming just the third British female Olympic champion at the distance after Ann Packer and Dame Kelly Holmes. Hodgkinson's trip to Poland has already got off to a speedy start. She revealed: 'The guys yesterday, the organisers, picked us up in a Porsche, we get about 10 minutes in and they were like, 'do you want to drive it?' 'I was like, 'of course I want to drive it!'. He was actually being serious, so I got in the car and drove it all the way back. It was fun.' Hodgkinson hopes to secure her first world title in Japan after back to back silvers at the last two championships, and is making the best of what remains in her control. The Lausanne Diamond League on August 20th – where the 800 metres is a diamond discipline, is next up. Hodgkinson added: 'It's been a long time. Over a year since Paris. It wasn't my plan to be this late, but I'm just super happy to get back on the start line. 'I've missed it. I've missed it a lot. This is what I trained to do, so I can't wait to go out there and just give it my absolute best and we'll see what happens.'
