THE Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics has banned Trinidad and Tobago and Texas University athlete Tyra Gittens for six months for a doping violation.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Gittens said she incurred the ban after her therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication was not approved in time for the 2022 World Championships last July.

As a result, Gittens tested positive for methylphenidate, which is on the banned list of drugs.

Gittens wrote, “Even though I have taken the same medication for years and had the same TUE for the Tokyo Olympics, I did not complete the application correctly.”

In a statement on Monday, the AIU said it "accepts that the athlete had not realised that her previous TUE had expired by the time of the TTO Sample collected on 26 June 2022, supported by her disclosure on the DCF (doping-control form), and therefore inadvertently continued to use her medication without a valid TUE.

"She was not advised that the TTO sample was positive for methylphenidate, or that her TUE had expired for this purpose, until November 2022, after the sample collected from her at the World Championships on 23 July 2022."

Gittens’s ban, which was retroactive, ended a week ago.

"During that time I learned so much more about myself my priorities and my goals," Gittens said.

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