Asafa Powell will have to wait until April 10 to find out if he can resume his career this year. Lawyers representing Powell and the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) completed submissions in the case today.
Both legal teams submitted to the Jamaica Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel of chairman Lennox Gayle, Peter Prendergast and Dr Japheth Ford saying that there are previous high profiled cases, mostly in United States and Great Britain that can be used to guide the decision process.
However, while Powell’s lawyer Kwame Gordon begged for leniency for his athlete, JADCO’s attorney Lackston Robinson is pushing for two years suspension.
At the National Senior Championship, June 21, 2013 after the 100m finals, Powell and then training partner Sherone Simpson returned positive analytical findings for the stimulant, Oxilofrine. They said the substance was found in a new supplement, Epiphany D1, given to her by Canadian physical trainer Chris Xuereb.
Robinson said Powell, who had known Xuereb for less than two months, blindly trusted his Canadian trainer. He said Powell was culpable of "not only significant negligence, but gross negligence". Robinson also said they were too many “discrepancies in the witness’ statements given by Dr. Doyle, Powell, and Miss Simpson's witnesses."
Meanwhile, according to Robinson in his submission, the bottle of Epiphany D1 submitted for testing to a Kentucky lab by Paul Doyle, Powell's manager, had oxilofrine while the one bought by the lab from the Epiphany D1 website didn't show the same substance.
“The one that Mr. Doyle submitted had a rock like substance, this (bought from the Epiphany D1 website) one didn’t have one. Mr. Doyle’s own was sealed, just the cap, this one the entire bottle was sealed, and then the cotton ball placement was different with this sample, and was on the top of the capsules.
Robinson said JADCO would not accept that Epiphany D1 contained the substance Oxilofrine found in Powell’s sample at last year’s June Jamaica Championships "Mr. Powell in his evidence suggested he took very little care in ensuring what he was taking was not contaminated,” Robinson said.
Powell’s lawyer is arguing otherwise saying JADCO had not provided any scientific evidence to suggest otherwise. Robinson said they didn’t need to with do so based on the information from the Lab in Kentucky.
Simpson will know her fate on April 8.
