Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye will miss the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after receiving a two-year ban ©Getty Images

Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye will miss the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, after receiving a two-year ban from the Athletics Integrity Unit for three alleged whereabouts failures.

The 27-year-old, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion over 100 metres who won silver at August's Pan American Games in Lima, allegedly missed drug tests on June 23 2018, February 23 2019 and April 19 2019.

Athletes in all sports must register their whereabouts at certain times so they can be drug-tested at random.

Missing three tests in 12 months is the equivalent of a doping failure.

Having attended an International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) disciplinary tribunal, Ahye received a two-year ban from April 19 2019, the date of her last whereabouts failure. 

In a 22-page ruling by the tribunal, the panel noted that there was no challenge to the first two missed tests constituting breaches of the IAAF anti-doping rules.

Ahye claimed that she did not hear the doorbell ring or the knocking of the doping control officer when he visited her home in Texas for the third offence.

This explanation was rejected by the tribunal, however. 

Michelle-Lee Ahye finished sixth in both the 100m and 200m events at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games ©Getty Images
Michelle-Lee Ahye finished sixth in both the 100m and 200m events at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games ©Getty Images

Ahye's ban will see her miss Tokyo 2020, having placed sixth in the 100m and 200m events at Rio 2016. 

"This is an unfortunate development as Michelle is a hard-working athlete in the prime of her career," said Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee President Brian Lewis, as reported by Wired868. 

"That said, the rules are clear as they relate to athlete's responsibilities and the consequences for failing to meet those obligations.

"We remain available to afford the support and guidance to our athletes when setbacks occur in their careers."

Ahye's ban follows much debate about the whereabouts rule, after American sprinter Christian Coleman escaped punishment, despite also being charged with missing three tests within a year in August. 

The United States Doping Agency, who claimed they were acting on advice from the World Anti-Doping Agency, confirmed that Coleman's first alleged failure, a filing error, has been pushed back to the first day of the quarter and subsequently out of the 12-month window.

Coleman criticised authorities following the case, but others claimed he had been let off due to a "loophole" and "technicality".