EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Sprinter Erriyon Knighton tested positive for a banned substance that an arbitration panel determined came from contaminated meat, a decision that keeps the 200-meter specialist eligible to run at the upcoming U.S. Olympic trials.
The 20-year-old from Florida, who holds the under-18 and under-20 records in the 200 meters, tested positive for the performance enhancer trenbolone during an out-of-competition test in March, according to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which revealed details of the case Wednesday.
Though the arbitration panel cleared Knighton to run in the 200, starting June 27, the decision can be appealed by either the Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees doping in track and field, or the World Anti-Doping Agency.
WADA spokesman James Fitzgerald said “as it always does, WADA will review this case and reserves the right to take an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, as appropriate.”
The AIU did not return an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
“We did what the rules require us to do in all positive cases,” USADA CEO Travis Tygart said. “We can take comfort that justice was served and transparency as required by the rules was achieved."
Tygart said the contaminated meat came from oxtail at a bakery in central Florida. A USADA investigation, including obtaining the meat and testing it, along with interviews with the manager of the bakery, Knighton, his girlfriend and his mother, backed up the sprinter’s contamination claim.
When Knighton qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, he became the youngest male since Jim Ryun in 1964 to make the U.S. Olympic team. He finished fourth in the 200 behind Andre De Grasse, Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles. Knighton finished second behind Lyles at last year's world championships.
Contamination cases such as Knighton's aren't unheard of, though they have come under closer scrutiny of late in the wake of a case involving 23 Chinese swimmers whose positive tests for a banned heart medication were deemed to have come because of contamination.
WADA accepted the explanation from Chinese authorities and did not pursue that case, which became public after reporting by The New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD. That decision has been roundly criticized by USADA and others because the initial positives were not made public.
Part of WADA's argument has been to point out contamination cases that originated in the United States — which have involved everything from meat to dog medicine — have not always resulted in sanctions. USADA has insisted it has followed the rulebook in all those cases, including making public any violation, even if it did not result in a penalty.
Perhaps the most controversial contamination case in the U.S. involved distance runner Shelby Houlihan, who got banned before the 2021 Olympic trials, even though she claimed her positive test was the result of a burrito she bought that contained meat laced with nandrolone.
Houlihan is currently serving a four-year ban that ends next year.
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
FILE - Erriyon Knighton, of the United States, left, wins a heat in the men's 200-meter run at the World Athletics Championships on Monday, July 18, 2022, in Eugene, Ore. Sprinter Erriyon Knighton tested positive for a banned substance that an arbitration panel determined came from contaminated meat, a decision that keeps the 200-meter specialist eligible to run at the upcoming Olympic trials, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
FILE -Erriyon Knighton, of the United States, competes in a Men's 200-meter heat during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Sprinter Erriyon Knighton tested positive for a banned substance that an arbitration panel determined came from contaminated meat, a decision that keeps the 200-meter specialist eligible to run at the upcoming Olympic trials, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)
FILE - Erriyon Knighton, of the United States, wins a heat during the men's 200-meter semifinal run at the World Athletics Championships on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in Eugene, Ore. Sprinter Erriyon Knighton tested positive for a banned substance that an arbitration panel determined came from contaminated meat, a decision that keeps the 200-meter specialist eligible to run at the upcoming Olympic trials, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
LONDON (AP) — Dutiful, managerial, a bit dull — Keir Starmer is no one’s idea of a firebrand politician.
The Labour Party hopes that is just what Britain wants and needs after 14 turbulent years of Conservative rule. Starmer, the center-left party’s 61-year-old leader, is the current favorite to win the country’s July 4 election.
Starmer has spent four years as opposition leader dragging his social democratic party from the left towards the political middle ground. His message to voters is that a Labour government will bring change — of the reassuring rather than scary kind.
“A vote for Labour is a vote for stability — economic and political,” Starmer said after Prime Minister Rishi Sunakcalled the election on May 22.
If opinion polls giving Labour a consistent double-digit lead are borne out on election day, Starmer will become Britain's first Labour prime minister since 2010.
A lawyer who served as chief prosecutor for England and Wales between 2008 and 2013, Starmer is caricatured by opponents as a “lefty London lawyer.” He was knighted for his role leading the Crown Prosecution Service, and Conservative opponents like to use his title, Sir Keir Starmer, to paint him as elite and out of touch.
Starmer prefers to stress his everyman credentials and humble roots — in implicit contrast to Sunak, who is a former Goldman Sachs banker married to the daughter of a billionaire.
He loves soccer — still plays the sport on weekends — and enjoys nothing more than watching Premier League team Arsenal over a beer in his local pub. He and his wife Victoria, who works in occupational health, have two teenage children they strive to keep out of the public eye.
Born in 1963, Starmer is the son of a toolmaker and a nurse who named him after Keir Hardie, the Labour Party’s first leader. One of four children, he was raised in a cash-strapped household in a small town outside London.
“There were hard times,” he said in a speech launching his campaign. “I know what out of control inflation feels like, how the rising cost-of-living can make you scared of the postman coming down the path: ‘Will he bring another bill we can’t afford?’
“We used to choose the phone bill because when it got cut off, it was always the easiest to do without.”
Starmer’s mother suffered from a chronic illness, Still’s disease, that left her in pain, and Starmer has said that visiting her in the hospital and helping to care for her helped form his strong support for the state-funded National Health Service.
He was the first member of his family to go to college, studying law at Leeds University and Oxford, and practiced human rights law before being appointed chief prosecutor.
He entered politics in his 50s and was elected to Parliament in 2015. He often disagreed with party leader Jeremy Corbyn, a staunch socialist, at one point quitting the party’s top team over disagreements, but agreed to serve as Labour’s Brexit spokesman under Corbyn.
Starmer has faced repeated questions about that decision, and about urging voters to support Corbyn during the 2019 election.
He said he wanted to stay and fight to change Labour, arguing that “leaders are temporary, but political parties are permanent.”
After Corbyn led Labour to election defeats in 2017 and 2019 — the latter the party’s worst result since 1935 — Labour picked Starmer to lead efforts to rebuild.
His leadership has coincided with a turbulent period that saw Britain go through the COVID-19 pandemic, leave the EU, absorb the economic shock of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and endure economic turmoil from Liz Truss’s turbulent 49-day term as prime minister in 2022.
Voters are weary from a cost-of-living crisis, a wave of public sector strikes and political turmoil that saw the Conservative Party dispatch two prime ministers within weeks in 2022 — Boris Johnson and Truss — before installing Sunak to try to steady the ship.
Starmer imposed discipline on a party with a well-earned reputation for internal division, ditched some of Corbyn’s more overtly socialist policies and apologized for antisemitism that an internal investigation concluded had been allowed to spread under Corbyn.
Starmer promised “a culture change in the Labour Party.” His mantra is now “country before party.”
Starmer was a strong opponent of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, though now says a Labour government would not seek to reverse it.
Critics say that shows a lack of political principle. Supporters say it’s pragmatic and respects the fact that British voters have little desire to revisit the divisive Brexit debate.
Now Starmer must persuade voters that a Labour government can ease Britain’s chronic housing crisis and repair its fraying public services, especially the creaking health service — but without imposing tax increases or deepening the public debt.
To the dismay of some Labour supporters, he watered down a pledge to spend billions investing in green technology, saying a Labour government would not borrow more to fund public spending.
“A lot of people on the left will accuse him of letting them down, betraying socialist principles. And a lot of people on the right accuse him of flip-flopping,” said Tim Bale, political scientist at Queen Mary University of London.
“But, hey, if that’s what it takes to win, then I think that tells you something about Starmer’s character. He will do whatever it takes -- and has done whatever it takes -- to get into government.”
The party has surged in the polls under his leadership, which has helped keep Starmer's internal critics onside.
At the party’s conference in October he showed a flash of passion, telling cheering delegates: “I grew up working class. I’ve been fighting all my life. And I won’t stop now.” He also showed remarkable composure when a protester rushed onstage and showered Starmer with glitter and glue.
Some have likened this election to 1997, when Tony Blair led Labour to a landslide victory after 18 years of Conservative rule.
Bale says Starmer lacks Blair’s charisma. But, he said, “given the turmoil that Brits have had to endure since the Brexit referendum in 2016, a bit of boring wouldn’t go down that badly, I think, with the public.”
Associated Press writer Danica Kirka contributed to this story.
Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is welcomed by BBC Director-General Tim Davie for the BBC's Prime Ministerial Debate, in Nottingham, England, Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Phil Noble/Pool via AP)
Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer arrives for the BBC's Prime Ministerial Debate, in Nottingham, England, Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Phil Noble/Pool via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, left, take part for the BBC's Prime Ministerial Debate, in Nottingham, England, Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Phil Noble/Pool via AP)
Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer takes part for the BBC's Prime Ministerial Debate, in Nottingham, England, Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Phil Noble/Pool via AP)
