Italian police have opened an investigation for doping against Jamaican sprinters Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson, police said on Tuesday, as the athletes blamed their physiotherapist after they failed drugs tests. The pair, who tested positive for a banned stimulant, were training in north-east Italy but have now left the country after a police raid on their hotel, a local police officer told AFP.
Canadian physiotherapist Chris Xuereb, who is similarly under investigation, has also left Italy, the officer, who declined to be identified, added. The prosecutor's office in Udine, the city closest to where the Jamaican team was staying, is leading the investigation for suspected violation of a law that punishes the supply and ingestion of stimulants. Prosecutors have also confirmed the seizure of around 50 boxes including creams, sprays and vials that were seized in a search of the rooms of Powell, Simpson and Xuereb in the night between Sunday and Monday.
Police and prosecutors are currently looking for a laboratory that can carry out tests. "All we know is that they (Powell, Simpson and Xuereb) have left Lignano," the officer said. "The substances we seized still have to be tested. "We began the investigation because of the positive test results that were announced. We are not planning to conduct our own (doping) tests (on the athletes)." The development came after both athletes pointed to contaminated food supplements as the reason why they failed the dope tests, which have cast a cloud over the build-up to the athletics world championships in Moscow next month and put sprinting in the spotlight.
Britain's Daily Telegraph quoted Paul Doyle as saying in an interview that both Powell and Simpson had only recently begun working with Xuereb. US-based Doyle said he had no reason to suspect "mal-intent" on Xuereb's part and that, like the athletes, he was probably unaware of exactly what the supplements contained. Both athletes tested positive for oxilofrine at the Jamaican championships last month.
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