Safa’s Late-Night Test!
Published: Friday | August 3, 2012 0 Comments

Asafa Powell … tested three times in five days. – Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

Former 100m record holder taken out of his bed

LONDON, England:

Jamaica’s Asafa Powell, a 100 metres medal hopeful and former world record holder, was awakened from his sleep late last night for his third drug test in five days since arriving in the Olympic Village in London, compelling his agent Paul Doyle to question whether his athlete is being targeted by the officials.

Powell is said to be extremely frustrated by what Doyle labelled the “excessive and intrusive” testing, and despite underlining his support for the aggressive pursuit of drug cheats, the agent called for greater sensitivity towards athletes in general where this is concerned.

“I think it’s excessive and it’s intrusive,” Doyle told The Gleaner shortly after Powell’s third drug test late last night.

“He has been tested three times in the past few days. The first two were acceptable, far away from the competition at normal times of the day, but this last time they came and knocked on his door at 10:15 p.m. and woke him up from his sleep and brought down for drug testing again, less than 48 hours before he has to compete.

“We are all for doping control and we are all for the testing and I wish they will do more, but I also wish that they would be more sensitive to the athletes,” Doyle reasoned.

HAD TO MISS TRAINING

“The only way we are going to clean up the sport is to be more aggressive with the testing and we are all for catching drug cheats, but at the same time we don’t want it to interfere with an athlete’s preparation.”

Doyle added that the athlete has already had to miss training due to drug-test requirements, and that the athlete and his coach, Stephen Francis, were both upset about the situation.

“It’s just been extremely excessive and very inconvenient to the point where he has had to miss training for the blood testing, and now he is missing sleep,” Doyle fumed. “He was upset about the second one and now this third one is just appalling.

“We were there with him; once it happened he called me. I told him to stay in bed and make the blood tester sit outside with the door open so he could watch him while we went down and complained to the IOC (International Olympic Committee).”

Doyle recounted. “They (IOC) said that they are sorry and they apologised, but of course he had to give the test, and of course, he can’t refuse to take the test.”

Doyle, who has 35 other athletes under his management competing at the Olympic Games, shared that only one other athlete has mentioned being tested up to this point.

FRUSTRATING

“It’s just frustrating. His body will regenerate the blood they took in a matter of hours, but it, of course, weighs on his mind. He felt the other day after giving blood that he was too weak to train, but he will be fine come the day of competition. I just think it’s terrible the way they are targeting the Jamaican athletes, possibly, and certainly Asafa,” Doyle noted.

“I don’t know if any of the other top athletes are being tested as much. We certainly hope so, but all we can say is how often Asafa is being tested and it’s way more than anybody else. He must be the most-tested athlete in the world,” Doyle added.

Powell will line up in the heats of the men’s 100m tomorrow inside the London Olympic Stadium, where he is expected to mount a challenge for his first Olympic medal in the event.

1.Sometime after Easter 2003 I met as I thought by chance a guy called Errol Walker. I was surprised when he started to ask me questions about Andrew Ahwee and how I was going to find the money to pay him. I had been involved with Errol about 2 years ago but the relationship had ended when I found out about his violent nature and the allegations that he had (Edited) person. At this meeting he was very interested in myself and Andrew Ahwee and how I was going to pay Andrew’s demands.
By arrangement I met with Errol Walker a few times and it was during these meetings that he started to suggest that I could do something for him and that this would enable me to earn both of us a lot of money and that by doing so I would be able to pay Mr Ahwee. His suggestions were for me to bring drugs to the United Kingdom for him. At first I point blank refused the suggestion and this was despite the fact that I was being pressured by Ahwee for money. In early July 2003 Errol asked me to do him a favour I knew that Errol was friendly with Clifton Rochester but I was not aware that they were doing business together neither was I aware what type of business they were involved in. Errol asked me if I could collect something for him in London from Clifton to bring back to Jamaica. He said it was a sum of money which Cliff had for him.
On my next trip to London I contacted Cliff and he arranged for his friend Marvin to meet me at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in London where he gave me an envelope which contained the money. I travelled with this money in my luggage and on arrival in Jamaica I called Errol and he collected it from me at Kingston airport.
I did not receive any part from Errol for bringing this money for him to Jamaica. He did ask me if there was anything he could get me and I suggested a mobile telephone. He said he would arrange for me to get one the following week when I travelled to London he said that he would contact Clifton and arranged for me to get the mobile that I wanted.
On the following visit to London I again met Marvin Young and he gave me the mobile telephone. When I got back to Jamaica and this would have been the week before my arrest I arranged to meet Errol at an hotel in Kingston called the Four Seasons. Again at this meeting he was putting me under pressure to bring drugs into the United Kingdom for him. I again refused to do so. Errol kept on calling me all that week and each time we spoke he became more and more threatening, threatening both myself and my mother if I did not do as he wanted. At this time I did not believe that Errol knew where I lived because when I had been seeing him earlier 2 years ago I was living in the Barbican and I had not given him my new address.
Two or three days before last flight to the UK I was at home with my mother, that night I thought I could hear movement outside the house. I got up and looked out of the window and I saw a man on our veranda he was just there leaning and smoking and looking at my vehicle. I knocked on the window and the man looked at me but he seemed unconcerned and did not move he just took a puff of cigarette. I went and got my mother and we both went to the window and looked out the man was still there he simulated a gun pointing at us with his fingers and then he just walked away casually.
The following day Errol called me and he asked me if he saw his friend last night. I was shocked and scared I immediately made the connection. He told me that I was to meet him at a bar in Kingston which I did. He started off by asking me if I had seen his friend last night and letting me knew that he knew where myself and my mother lived and it is if I did not take the drugs for him he would make sure that we both suffered. He told me that he would give me £4,000.00 and also help me to sort out my problem with Mr Ahwee.
I made arrangements to meet Errol on Saturday before I was due to travel to the United Kingdom. We met at the Island Grill restaurant in Constant Spring Road, Kingston and he gave me a black carrier bag which contained the drugs. He told me how I should conceal the drugs by the use of a body wrap and that because I was cabin crew the security check would not be as careful. He said when I arrived in London I should contact Marvin and arrange for him to come and collect the drugs.
On arrival in London on the 28th July 2003 I contacted Marvin and we made arrangements to meet and it was following that meeting in Wembley that I was arrested.

2.cocaine

3.I had already pleaded guilty to the Importation of cocaine on the 28th July 2003. That was the only occasion on which I imported cocaine into the United Kingdom and I have never before or since imported any other drug into the United Kingdom.

4. I was arrested on the first trip

5.Yes, I disclosed the circumstances which led to me being involved in that Importation and the individuals who were also concerned in that with me. I had also explained the circumstances in which I came to know various of the individuals who are now indicted with me and with the exception of Marvin Young none of the other individuals to my knowledge were concerned in the Importation of drugs which I carried out on the 28th July 2003.

6.During my incarceration I spent my time trying to re focus my life. I achieved several certificates from National Open College Network in Introduction to Drug Awareness, Citizenship, Budgeting and Money Management,Computer Literacy and Information Technology level 1, Integrated Business Technology level 2, Introduction to Step Aerobics, Skills for working in the Fitness Industry, and Customer Care. Also a higher diploma in Business Studies from the National Home Study College.
I was released on November 1, 2006 on the early release program for foreign nationals. Initially I simply enjoyed my freedom by doing all the things I hadn’t been able to do. In Feb 2007 I met and became involved with my fiance (Edited) (DW), and shortly after fell pregnant. With his help I was able to open an equipment rental company called Paragon Equipment which I have been operating till present. Also as much as time permits, I am a full time mother and ‘housewife’.