American sprinter Deajah Stevens banned 18 months for missed tests, claims harasser forced phone number change

Stevens will miss the 2021 Olympics

Olympic finalist sprinter Deajah Stevens has been banned from the sport for 18 months, the Athletics Integrity Unit, an organization that prosecutes cases in track and field, announced on Thursday. This comes after Stevens' third missed doping test, and as a results she will miss the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Stevens, who specializes in the 200-meter race, missed three doping tests throughout 2019 that took place in Oregon and West Hollywood, which, according to the AIU, are grounds for a ban of some kind. What makes her third missed test particularly noteworthy is that the tribunal was told Stevens was forced to change her phone number because an unknown individual was harassing her. Not only was there harassment, but Stevens also said a threat was made on her fiance's life. That made he remove herself from her building's directory so no one would know which unit in her building she resided in.

In the review process of her case, that experience was submitted as evidence that Stevens was neither negligent or at fault for the final missed test. But the AIU countered that a member of the Doping Control Office (DCO) had been able to get to her apartment, even with her name not on the registry. They also pointed out that Stevens had recently said she would have provided a sample to the DCO had the office "taken the necessary steps to notify" her.

"Despite our sympathy for the athlete, we have not been satisfied on a balance of probability that her behavior was not negligent," the disciplinary panel said, making sure to note the previously missed tests. "She should have been on red alert and conscious that she could not miss the next one."

Stevens says she missed a previous test because her phone had ran out of battery overnight.

The tribunal factored in the "distress, fear and distraction caused by the harassment she experienced" by taking six months off of Stevens' potential two-year ban. It also helps that this was her first offense.

Stevens placed seventh in the final at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and fifth at the 2017 world championships in London. Her racing success goes back to the collegiate level, which includes a 2017 national championship in the 200 and an NCAA championship in the 4x400 relay running for the University of Oregon.