…Sprinter says a substance called Epiphany D1 was source of the banned stimulant which showed up in a positive test he gave at the Jamaican Championships

JAMAICAN sprinter Asafa Powell admitted to a Jamaican Anti-Doping Committee hearing yesterday that he had failed to disclose all the supplements he was taking on his “doping control form” last summer because he could not remember their names.The former 100 metres world record-holder, who tested positive for the banned stimulant oxilofrine at the Jamaican Championships last June, said he had been given nine nutritional supplements to take by his physical trainer, Canadian Chris Xuereb, but he recorded only three of them on his form because the others were new to him and he could not recall the brand names.
According to anti-doping rules, athletes are obliged to list everything they have taken in the last seven days when they submit to a drug test. Asked if he was aware of the rules, Powell told the hearing: “I am now.”
Among the products Powell failed to disclose was Epiphany D1, which his management company claim was the source of the oxilofrine.
Powell’s former training partner, Sherone Simpson, tested positive for the same substance at the same championships and at her own disciplinary hearing last week it was claimed that subsequent tests on Epiphany D1 carried out at three separate laboratories revealed the presence of the stimulan
Under cross-examination by Lackston Robinson, lawyer for the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission, Powell admitted that, on Xuereb’s advice, he had taken four capsules of Epiphany D1 at 6.30am on the day of his race at the Jamaican Championships.
Powell said he believed all of the supplements given to him by Xuereb were legal after checking them on the internet. Xuereb was hired by Powell’s agent, Paul Doyle, to treat his chronic injury problems and Powell said he had no reason to doubt his expertise.
“He came as a physiotherapist and he did all the treatments,” Powell told the three-man panel. He also said that he and Xuereb had become good friends prior to the failed drug test and that the trainer lived in his home and would play with his daughter. When news of Powell’s failed drug test broke last year, Xuereb denied giving the sprinter anything other than legal supplements and accused him and Simpson of “looking for a scapegoat”.
Powell, who has been suspended since his positive drug test and missed the World Championships in Moscow in August, told the hearing that before being introduced to Xuereb he was taking four supplements recommended to him by his former coach, Stephen Francis: Nitro Tech, Cell Tech, Megaman Sport and vitamin C.
Asked by Robinson whether he was aware of the dangers that supplements could be mislabelled, Powell replied: “I don’t work at the factory sir, so I wouldn’t know.

(The Telegraph)