KINGSTON, Jamaica – Former 100-meter world record holder Asafa Powell testified today at his drug hearing that he had just doubled the dosage of Epipphany D1 on the morning of his positive test. It was later that day (June 21, 2013) he ran the semi-finals and final of the men's 100m.
The Jamaican athlete tested positive for banned stimulant oxilofrine, which is contained in Epipphany D1, at last June's National championships.
Powell, who began his testimony after 10am this morning, said the instructions given by Canadian Chris Xuereb was to take two capsules each morning for the first week and double it for the second week.
"I didn't remember to do that (double the dosage)," he said until "Chris (Xuereb) came to my room the morning of the trails and said I must remember to take four"
Powell said he started taking the supplements supplied to him by Xuereb about a month before the Jamaica Championships, which was held June 20-23.
Powell also testified that was not not acquainted with the World Anti-Doping Agency's rules until his positive test.
"I didn't know the code'" Powell said.
But asked if he knew of the prohibited list, Powell said "I don't know the list, but I knew of the list"
"I know there is a list we suppose to check," he continued while adding he only check such list when taking supplements.
Powell was also asked by JADCO's lawyer Lackston Robinson if he was aware of the risk in taking supplements.
He said "there are risk in everything."
Asked if he was aware of the possibilities of mislabeled, Powell replied, "I didn't work at the factor so I would not know."
It also came out in Powell's testimony that he did not include Epipphany D1 on his doping control form.
And asked why he did not, Powell replied, "I could not remembered after all the excitement at trails.
Also, Powell, who finished 7th in the men's 100m, added "all the supplements were new to me, so I could not remember all of them"
Asked if he was surprised his former training partner Sherone Simpson gave similar answer, Powell said, "no sir"
Xuereb's credibility also came into question when Powell was asked if he knew for sure the Canadian was a physiotherapist. "I wanted a physiotherapist and I contacted my agent Paul Doyle to get one. He came as a physiotherapist and he does all the treatments. I had no reason to doubt his qualification," Powell said.
