News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. July 15, 2013: Former World’s fastest man, Jamaican Olympian Asafa Powell, insists he is no cheat.
The runner, whose hotel at the Fra i Pini hotel in Lignano Sabbiadoro in northeastern Italy was raided by Italian police there Monday morning after requests from WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, took to Twitter to insist he has never knowingly took banned substances.
“I am not now – nor have I ever been – a cheat,” he posted.
Powell and Sherone Simpson’s agent said Sunday that they both tested positive for the stimulant oxilofrine at the Jamaican championships last month.
Powell has called for an investigation as to how the oxilofrine [methylsynephrine] could have entered his system. The drug is considered by the authorities to be a banned stimulant.
Meanwhile, American Tyson Gay, a triple world gold medalist in 2007, admitted Sunday that a urine sample he had provided in an out-of-competition drug test on May 16 had returned a positive result and that he was pulling out of next month’s World Championships in Moscow.
