Jamaica: A Jamaican disciplinary panel on Thursday banned former 100-meter world record holder Asafa Powell from athletics for 18 months after the veteran sprinter tested positive for a banned stimulant in June 2013.
In the sprinting powerhouse's capital of Kingston, the head of the three-member panel of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission said its decision was unanimous after examining the "voluminous nature of the evidence."
"In all the circumstances, Mr. Powell was found to be negligent, and he was at fault," said commission chairman Lennox Gayle, adding the panel would issue a written statement explaining its decision in about a month.
Powell's backdated ban begins from the date of his sample collection on June 21, 2013 during national trials for the world championships. That means he's eligible to return to competition on Dec. 20, about a month after he turns 32.
Once the top sprinter on the track, Powell lowered the world record in the 100 to 9.77 in 2005, then 9.74 in 2008 before being eclipsed by countryman Usain Bolt. Powell was the Jamaican athlete who first put Jamaica's dominating athletics prowess on center stage in the 21st century. But unlike Bolt, he could never win the big one.
The 31-year-old sprinter tested positive for the banned stimulant oxilofrone at Jamaica's national trials in June 2013. He'd been suspended from competition since his doping case was disclosed in July.
Powell did not attend the Thursday session, but he issued a statement through his publicist saying his defense team will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He described the ruling as "not only unfair, it is patently unjust."
Like former teammate Sherone Simpson, a three-time Olympic medalist who tested positive for the same stimulant at the national trials in June, Powell placed the blame on a newly-hired trainer who provided the two athletes with supplements, including one called "Epiphany D1" which lab tests later showed to contain oxilofrone.
"I have never knowingly taken any banned substances, I did all the necessary checks before taking Epiphany D1 and it is my hope that the CAS will prove to be a more open and fair avenue for the review of all the facts in my case," Powell said in his Thursday statement.
During hearings earlier this year, Powell testified that he received nine supplements from Canadian physiotherapist Christopher Xuereb, including Epiphany D1. Powell said he started taking the capsules in early June after he and a friend researched the supplement for up to six hours online and found no prohibited substances.
But Xuereb has said he never gave Powell or Simpson any performance-enhancing drugs and only purchased major brand vitamins. In July, he asserted to The Associated Press that both athletes were looking for a scapegoat. Xuereb once worked at the Toronto clinic run by Anthony Galea, a sports physician who pleaded guilty to bringing unapproved and mislabeled drugs into the U.S. for house calls.
On the morning of the Jamaican trials, Powell said he took four capsules of Epiphany D1 at Xuereb's suggestion after previously taking two each morning. Powell ended up finishing in seventh place and failed to qualify for the world championships.
