Asafa Powell vows to fight ban

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer

Asafa Powell has deemed his 18-month ban from competition by a Jamaica anti-doping disciplinary panel as unjust and vows to clear his name by taking the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Powell, the former 100-metre world record holder and one of the fastest men of all time, was yesterday handed the suspension after returning an adverse finding for the stimulant, oxilofrine. The test was conducted during the National Championships in June 2013.

"My team has begun preparations for an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. I want to reiterate that I have never knowingly taken any banned substances, I did all the necessary checks before taking Ephiphany 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 - facts and truth that were not taken into to consideration at my initial hearing," Powell said in a statement.

His lawyers had earlier expressed a similar sentiment mere moments after the panel of Peter Prendergast, Lennox Gayle and Dr Japheth Forde slapped the sprinter with the ban that will see him return to competition on December 20, 2014.

conflicting standards

"We are disappointed that having had two months to review the matter, we have no written reasons. The sanction would imply that the athlete is being held at a certain standard. It would have been appropriate if the panel had applied the same standard to themselves and provided written reasons," said Kwame Gordon, who, along with Danielle Chai, represented both Powell and Sherone Simpson. "The second thing is, we do not agree with the award, and just like with the Sherone Simpson matter, we are taking it to the next level."

Powell said the panel has denied him a chance at redemption. "This ruling is not only unfair, it is patently unjust. Panels such as these, I understood, were assembled to allow athletes - who, consciously or unconsciously, come into conflict with the rules of sport - a chance at equitable redemption," he said. "Unfortunately, this was not the case. "

He continued: "As an athlete, I took a legal supplement - Ephiphany D1. As it turns out, that supplement was contaminated with oxilofrine. My team commissioned two private laboratories that confirmed that oxilofrine was present in the supplements, despite it not being listed as an ingredient on the bottle nor on its website. I would also like to share that upon realising that the supplement contained oxilofrine, my team made contact with both The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), who not only ordered samples of the supplement from the manufacturer, but also tested and confirmed our findings."

Powell, while accepting some responsibility for the failed test, said that a less severe sanction would have been more acceptable, especially seeing that this was the first time he had ever failed a test in his 12-year international career.

"This is the first time in nearly 12 years of being in the sport and over 150 tests that I have had an adverse finding ... it is for a stimulant - a stimulant that is only banned during competition and experts have declared has no performance-enhancing effects. Sanctions for a stimulant and this kind of infraction usually range from public warnings to a ban of three months, six months in the most extreme cases; I was, and am still more than prepared to accept a sanction that is in line with the offense. Instead, nine months later; what has been handed down is clearly not based on the offense or the facts surrounding it."

Powell was absent from yesterday's sitting of the panel and no explanation was forthcoming for his absence from his attorney, who only apologised for the athlete's absence and said he hoped it would not be a problem.

Chairman of the panel, Lennox Gayle, said it would not be, before proceeding to hand down the sanction on the premise that the panel unanimously agreed that Powell was negligent.

"Our decision today is against the background that Powell admitted to the violation and brought evidence to support his plea in mitigation," Gayle said while praising Powell's attorneys for presenting a detailed material in defence of their client.

He added that the time it took to conclude the case was due mainly to the "voluminous nature of the evidence which took time to go through".

Five Jamaican athletes returned adverse findings for banned substances during the championships. Powell is the third to be sanctioned. Allison Randall was on Tuesday suspended for two years for her failed test for hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ).