Sprinter Issamade Asinga sues Gatorade over ‘recovery gummies’ after doping ban
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Issamade Asinga said Gatorade provided him the gummies with packaging that claimed they were “NSF Certified for Sport”.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW YORK – Surinamese sprinter Issamade Asinga sued food and beverage firm Gatorade Company on July 10, alleging his recent doping ban was the result of eating contaminated “recovery gummies” that the brand manufactured and provided.
Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) handed the 19-year-old a four-year suspension for a doping violation in May, stripping his two South American Championships gold medals and his Under-20 100m world record.
In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, Asinga said Gatorade provided him the gummies in 2023 with packaging that claimed they were “NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) Certified for Sport” and therefore free from banned substances.
The lawsuit said the gummies lacked the certification, and instead “had been made using shoddy manufacturing processes, and were contaminated with trace amounts of an illegal performance-enhancing drug”.
NSF is an independent, Michigan-based non-governmental organisation that certifies when products are free from substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Gatorade said in a statement to Reuters: “The product in question is completely safe and the claims made are false.”
“Gatorade products are FDA (Food and Drug Administration) compliant and safe for athlete consumption, which was validated by the findings of the AIU investigation,” the beverage company said.
“Gatorade fully complied with the AIU investigation, including producing evidence that was accepted by the AIU that the gummies were not contaminated with the banned substance in their original ruling.”
Asinga also claims that Gatorade provided a sealed bottle from a different lot of gummies to AIU, “creating the false impression that the testing of this exemplar was relevant to his case”.
Gatorade said that it provided a sealed container of gummies from the same lot after the AIU ruling and that the sample tested negative.
Asinga argues in his complaint that the banned drug, known as cardarine, would not have been detectable after that length of time.
The sprinter has not competed since he was handed a provisional suspension ahead of the 2023 World Championships in Budapest and is seeking economic damages for lost income, scholarship opportunities and future earnings. REUTERS
