Simpson says she researched new drug for three hours before consuming it

Sherone Simpson

KINGSTON, Jamaica,  CMC Jamaican Olympian Sherone Simpson has revealed that she had embarked on extensive research before taking a new supplement given to her by physical trainer Chris Xuereb.

Sherone Simpson
Sherone Simpson

Speaking on the opening day of her hearing into her doping case Simpson says she was satisfied the new supplement, Epiphany D1, was clean.

Simpson said she was familiar with most of the supplements received from Xuereb except the Epiphany D1 which she researched for three hours.

“I Googled the Epiphany D1 on the WADA banned list and saw nothing on the bottle which appeared on the WADA list,” Simpson said yesterday at the hearing held at the Jamaica Conference Centre downtown Kingston.

“No alarm bell. No red flag”.

Simpson is one of five Jamaicans who returned adverse analytical findings at theNational Senior Championships last summer, with the banned substance oxilofrine found in her system.

“I double checked with a banned substance on the list and typed it in and it brought me back to the banned list.” She said.

The hearing, which continues today, is being presided over by a three-member panel, headed by attorney-at-law and vice-chairman of the JADCO disciplinary panel, Lennox Gayle, and completed by physician Dr Jephthah Ford and former FIFA referee Peter Prendergast.

Simpson, the 200m champion at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, finished second in the 100m final at the Beijing Olympic Games and has also won two additional Olympic and two World Championships medals in the 4x100m.