Jamaican athlete pulled from Olympic squad over doping

Fennell has refused to confirm whisperings that the athlete may have been a preliminary round runner on one of the relay teams.

8220;It is a very sensitive and important issue, and we have to be careful with how we treat it,8221; he said.

Jamaica8217;s best medal haul at the Olympics was seven in Sydney eight years ago and track and field experts had predicted that the country, with several of the world8217;s top athletes, could earn as many as 11 medals in Beijing.

Fennell said that the positive test 8220;won8217;t affect anybody who is clean.8221;

He added, however that the team 8220;would be extremely disappointed that one of their colleague has let them down.8221;

There have been several questions in recent months about the super performance of Jamaican athletes.

Adrian Lorde, head of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organisation, recently lambasted Jamaica for not doing enough doping tests.

However, for Fennell, the fact that the local system caught and is about to expose a cheat is testament to robust testing.

8220;Everybody is extremely disappointed that one of our athletes has tested positive, but I think it is a warning to everybody that we have a very robust testing system in place, which is working,8221; he said.