World Athletics: IAAF intervenes to keep Asafa Powell in Jamaican team

International athletics chiefs have been forced to intervene to prevent another serious embarrassment for the sport in Berlin after Jamaica had threatened to kick three of the biggest stars of the World Championships, including former world 100 metres record holder Asafa Powell, out of their team.

The Jamaican Amateur Athletics Association, already beleaguered after a drugs controversy, had planned to ban six athletes including Powell, Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser and Beijing 400m hurdles gold medallist Melaine Walker for disciplinary reasons after they failed to attend a pre-World Championship training camp in Nuremburg.

But on a chaotic day in Berlin, the JAAA backed down after the International Association of Athletics Federations, fearing the loss of marquee names, put pressure on Jamaican officials to change their mind because the world governing body felt the athletes' exclusion would reflect badly on the championship.

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