The backup doping tests have come back positive for former 100m world record-holder Asafa Powell, teammate Sherone Simpson and three other island athletes.
The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission said the athletes’ second samples were tested at a Montreal lab accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). It says all five athletes have been notified and the findings will be passed on to the Jamaican Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel so that hearings can be scheduled.
The athletes and their agent have focused on a new physical trainer, Christopher Xuereb of Canada, saying supplements he provided caused the positive tests. However, Xuereb has said he didn’t give the sprinters performance-enhancing drugs and suggested he was a scapegoat. Meanwhile, a Jamaican disciplinary panel is deliberating a verdict after a four-day closed-door hearing on a positive doping test by another marquee sprinter, three-time Olympic gold medallist Veronica Campbell-Brown.
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The panel includes a former judge, a former senior military official and the head of the island’s medical association.