Aberdeen AAC sprinter Zoey Clark is highly critical of the inconsistencies in penalties handed out to athletes failing World Athletics anti-doping whereabouts requirements.
The whereabouts rules require athletes to let anti-doping authorities know exactly where they will be on any given day so they are always available for testing.
Burghead hammer thrower Mark Dry, a two-time Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, was earlier this year given a four-year ban for a single whereabouts infringement.
But last month Bahrain’s Nigerian-born Salwa Eid Naser was cleared of all charges, despite missing three drugs tests over a 12-month period in the lead-up to her 400m victory at the 2019 Doha world championships.
Clark, who has been a member of Great Britain’s world and European championships medal winning 4x400m relay squad for the past three years, has never missed a test.
But she is furious her Scotland Commonwealth Games team-mate Dry and 400m rival Naser have been dealt with so differently.
She said: “I really feel for Mark because of the way he has been treated compared with others.
“It frustrates me that, because someone is a world champion, they seem to get off with it.
“It’s a massive example of double standards. It seems that, because Mark isn’t a world champion and doesn’t have an expensive lawyer, he is treated differently.
“At times it seems there’s one rule for one and another rule for others. Just because you’re world champion, it shouldn’t mean the rules don’t apply to you.
“It’s actually embarrassing that a world champion has failed to comply with the system.
“The Naser case is particularly frustrating, because she had three failures before the Doha world championships and shouldn’t have even been there.
“It’s really not difficult to comply with the regulations. As athletes we don’t have too many responsibilities, but this is one we really need to comply with to protect the sport.
“I don’t really see how there is any excuse for missing a test. It’s so easy to submit your whereabouts at the start of each quarter and you can update it at any time on your phone.
“It takes about 30 seconds and you can do it until one minute before your one-hour testing window.
“I can accept that it’s possible to perhaps genuinely forget to update your details once.
“But, if you did that, you would be so paranoid about it happening again that you’d be even more careful.
“I know that missing a test is not the same as failing a test, but the procedure is there for a reason and that’s to protect the sport.
“I just can’t see how anyone could miss three tests in one year.”
