Devers accepts 100m invitation

Gail Devers has accepted Team USA’s invitation to race in the 100 metres at Athens, putting an end to any hope Marion Jones had of defending her title.

The news was announced by American officials on Thursday morning at Georgioupolis, Crete, where the team’s training camp is entering its final week.

After Torri Edwards was hit with a two-year ban on Wednesday for failing a doping test, the United States have had to seek replacement athletes for the 100m and 200m, events in which Edwards was entered.

Thirty-seven-year-old Devers was next in line, having finished fourth – behind the three automatic qualifiers – at the US Olympic trials.

Had she turned down the chance to contest the sprint, as well as the 100m hurdles for which she is also entered, then Jones would have been next in line to be asked.

In the 200m, LaShaunte’a Moore will replace Edwards, who was formally suspended after testing positive for a banned stimulant containing nikethamide at an IAAF Grand Prix meeting in Martinique on April 24.

The IAAF last week refuted mitigating circumstances sent to them by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, claiming Edwards had been prescribed the banned stimulant in error.

The governing body stood by its strict liability law that if any banned drugs are found in the system of an athlete, they ultimately must accept responsibility.

Edwards was promoted to the 100m gold medal after last summer’s World Championships, where she finished second to compatriot Kelli White – who was later banned for a drugs offence.

With the opportunity to appeal against her suspension from the Games, Edwards has confirmed her intention to take her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.

The 27-year-old Californian expects to receive a judgment from the CAS before the track and field programme gets underway in Athens next Friday.

Should she prevail in sport’s highest court, then Edwards could yet claim her places back in the sprint events.

Devers may be a veteran now, but she has pedigree in the 100m, having been Olympic champion over the distance in both 1992 and 1996.

In the 100m, she will line up with trial winner LaTasha Colander and third-placed Lauryn Williams – Edwards having taken second place in that race at Sacramento.

Moore, who was fourth in the 200m trials, will team up with Allyson Felix and Muna Lee.