Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson have hotel rooms raided by police

• Associated Press
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 15 July 2013

Italian police have raided the hotel where the Jamaican sprinters Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson are staying after each tested positive for banned stimulants.

Udine’s police captain, Antonio Pisapia, said that rooms of the athletes and the physical trainer Chris Xuereb of Canada were searched and that drugs were confiscated. Pisapia said it was unclear if the drugs were legal or illicit and that the substances were being analysed.

Powell and Simpson tested positive for the stimulant oxilofrine at the Jamaican championships last month, their agent announced on Sunday.

Pisapia said that no arrests were made in the raid early on Monday morning at the Fra i Pini hotel in Lignano Sabbiadoro, north-eastern Italy, and that nobody has been placed under investigation. Jamaican athletes have trained in Lignano for years.

Adidas, meanwhile, has suspended its sponsorship of Tyson Gay after the American sprinter returned a positive doping test. After being told a banned substance was detected in an out-of-competition test in May, Gay pulled out of the upcoming world championships.

In a statement, Adidas said: “We are shocked by these recent allegations, and even if we presume his innocence until proven otherwise, our contract with Tyson is currently suspended.”

The sportswear giant has backed Gay since 2005, and says such sponsorships are terminated “if the athlete is found guilty of the possession, or use of drugs, or any other prohibited substance by the relevant governing sports body having jurisdiction over the athlete”.

Gay has said he will have his B sample tested soon, possibly as early as this week.

The IOC president, Jacques Rogge, said the tests showed out of competition testing was working. Rogge told www.aroundtherings.com: “I was surprised and disappointed but I feel strengthened by the measures that have been taken by Usada [the US Anti-Doping Agency], by Wada [the World Anti-Doping Agency] and the world of sport in general.

“It’s always disappointing when you hear bad news but at the same time this is confirmation that out of competition testing really is effective. I think that’s what we have to remember about that. To continue to do out-of-competition testing, testing, testing all the time and storing blood profiles and freezing the samples and re-examining them within the eight years statute of limitation.”