The sports doping scandal took another interesting turn today as Asafa Powell claimed that his drug test failure was probably all his physiotherapist's fault.
The Jamaican sprinter said that he started taking a range of new nutritional supplements when he began working with Chris Xeureb two months ago, and blames them for his positive test for oxilofrine. His team-mate Sherone Simpson has also tested positive for a banned substance after taking the supplements, so the pair came up with a bit of a plan.
As per The Daily Telegraph, Powell and Simpson contacted the World Anti-Doping Agency and requested a police raid on an Italian hotel, where they have been staying with the physiotherapist in question. He is a Canadian former athlete and American football player.
The police obliged after getting their hands on a search warrant, and are reported to have searched Powell, Simpson and Xuereb's rooms, before taking all supplements and medicines away for testing.
The boys' manager Paul Doyle said that they had been expecting the police, but had failed to notify Xeureb of their impending arrival. "He [Xuereb] was brought in for questioning," Doyle said. "I got a message from him afterwards, an angry message, saying he was detained for seven hours. He did use the word arrested but I don’t think he truly was arrested." However, Doyle did state that he did not believe the physiotherapist would have purposely given Powell or Simpson the supplements. He said that Xeureb was probably as clueless as the athletes when it came to the ingredients.
Whether or not the latest revelation will serve to salvage Powell and Simpson's careers remains to be seen: WADA's 'strict liability' rule does say they should know what they're putting into their own systems after all...
