Latest news with #Asinga
National Post
30-04-2025
- National Post
Suspended sprinter's lawsuit against Gatorade over gummies is dismissed
A New York judge dismissed Issam Asinga's lawsuit against Gatorade, in which the suspended sprinter alleged the company gave him contaminated gummies at an awards banquet and withheld evidence that could have exonerated him before he received a four-year doping ban. Article content In siding with Gatorade's motion to dismiss Monday, U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel did not make a judgment on the suit's claims. She wrote that Asinga could not sue for liability because he did not suffer a physical injury and that he did not qualify for consumer protection because he did not purchase the gummies. Article content 'The Court understands how unsatisfying this decision will be for Plaintiff,' Seibel wrote in the Southern District of New York. 'Taking the allegations in the Amended Complaint as true, he will … be deprived of his athletic career for four years through no fault of his own. Unfortunately, the causes of action he has asserted are not the right fit for the circumstances.' Article content Asinga can appeal the dismissal. His lawyer, Alexis Chardon, said the 20-year-old strongly disagrees with Seibel's decision and is weighing his options. Article content '[The] decision holds that a young man may be deprived of his athletic career through no fault of his own and be left without even an opportunity to prove his claim against the multinational corporation which he believes carelessly harmed him,' Chardon said. Article content Asinga sued Gatorade in July, alleging the company gave him 'recovery gummies' at an event honuoring him as the high school track and field athlete of the year that were tainted with cardarine, a banned fat metabolizer that has been found to cause cancer in lab animals. After Asinga tested positive, he sent the gummies to a lab that found the gummies contained traces of cardarine. The container, according to internal Gatorade emails included in Asinga's lawsuit, had been incorrectly labeled certified. Article content Article content When Asinga asked Gatorade for another container of gummies from the same lot to be tested, the company told him it could not find one. It instead sent a container from the same 'batch' to be tested, according to the lawsuit. When those gummies tested negative for cardarine, the Athletics Integrity Unit, global track and field's anti-doping agency, handed Asinga a four-year ban that cost him two under-20 world records, a chance to compete for Suriname at the Paris Olympics and his athletic scholarship to Texas A&M. Article content Gatorade filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in January. It won that motion Monday. Article content 'For over 60 years Gatorade has provided athletes products that are safe for consumption and backed by science,' the company said in a statement Tuesday. 'We are pleased by the Court's decision to dismiss the case as there was no merit or evidence to support the claims asserted.'
New Straits Times
29-04-2025
- Sport
- New Straits Times
PepsiCo's Gatorade defeats banned sprinter's lawsuit over 'recovery gummies'
NEW YORK: PepsiCo's Gatorade unit yesterday won the dismissal of a lawsuit by former world champion sprinter Issam Asinga, who blamed his four-year doping ban on eating "recovery gummies" contaminated by a performance-enhancing drug. US District Judge Cathy Seibel in White Plains, New York, said Asinga, who is from Suriname, could not pursue strict liability and negligence claims because he did not allege that eating the gummies caused physical injury. She also found no proof that Gatorade intentionally caused him to ingest a banned substance, thereby undermining his athletic scholarship from Texas A&M University and agreement to abide by world anti-doping rules. "The court understands how unsatisfying this decision will be" for Asinga, if he were "deprived of his athletic career for four years through no fault of his own. Unfortunately, the causes of action he has asserted are not the right fit for the circumstances." Ali Chardon, a lawyer for Asinga, in an email said the decision left her client with "no way to access justice" for losing his track career. "We think the decision is wrong, and are evaluating next steps," Chardon added. PepsiCo, based in Purchase, New York, and Gatorade lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees track and field's anti-doping program, suspended Asinga last May, stripping him of two South American Championship gold medals and his under-20 100 meters record time of 9.89 seconds. Asinga, now 20, also beat American world champion Noah Lyles at 100 meters in a wind-aided 9.83 seconds. In his lawsuit, Asinga said Gatorade gave him gummies tainted by the drug cardarine when he traveled to Los Angeles in July 2023 to accept the company's National Player of the Year Award. He said the AIU panel banned him because he could not provide proof of contamination from a sealed bottle of gummies with the same lot number. Asinga also said Gatorade falsely claimed that the gummies were "certified for sport" by NSF, an independent Michigan-based nongovernmental organization that certifies when products are free from substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
PepsiCo's Gatorade defeats banned sprinter's lawsuit over 'recovery gummies'
By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - PepsiCo's Gatorade unit on Monday won the dismissal of a lawsuit by former world champion sprinter Issam Asinga, who blamed his four-year doping ban on eating "recovery gummies" contaminated by a performance-enhancing drug. U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel in White Plains, New York, said Asinga, who is from Suriname, could not pursue strict liability and negligence claims because he did not allege that eating the gummies caused physical injury. She also found no proof that Gatorade intentionally caused him to ingest a banned substance, thereby undermining his athletic scholarship from Texas A&M University and agreement to abide by world anti-doping rules. "The court understands how unsatisfying this decision will be" for Asinga, if he were "deprived of his athletic career for four years through no fault of his own. Unfortunately, the causes of action he has asserted are not the right fit for the circumstances." Ali Chardon, a lawyer for Asinga, in an email said the decision left her client with "no way to access justice" for losing his track career. "We think the decision is wrong, and are evaluating next steps," Chardon added. PepsiCo, based in Purchase, New York, and Gatorade lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees track and field's anti-doping program, suspended Asinga last May, stripping him of two South American Championship gold medals and his under-20 100 meters record time of 9.89 seconds. Asinga, now 20, also beat American world champion Noah Lyles at 100 meters in a wind-aided 9.83 seconds. In his lawsuit, Asinga said Gatorade gave him gummies tainted by the drug cardarine when he traveled to Los Angeles in July 2023 to accept the company's National Player of the Year Award. He said the AIU panel banned him because he could not provide proof of contamination from a sealed bottle of gummies with the same lot number. Asinga also said Gatorade falsely claimed that the gummies were "certified for sport" by NSF, an independent Michigan-based nongovernmental organization that certifies when products are free from substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The case is Asinga v Gatorade Co, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-05210.
Reuters
28-04-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
PepsiCo's Gatorade defeats banned sprinter's lawsuit over 'recovery gummies'
NEW YORK, April 28 (Reuters) - PepsiCo's (PEP.O), opens new tab Gatorade unit on Monday won the dismissal of a lawsuit by former world champion sprinter Issam Asinga, who blamed his four-year doping ban on eating "recovery gummies" contaminated by a performance-enhancing drug. U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel in White Plains, New York, said Asinga, who is from Suriname, could not pursue strict liability and negligence claims because he did not allege that eating the gummies caused physical injury. She also found no proof that Gatorade intentionally caused him to ingest a banned substance, thereby undermining his athletic scholarship from Texas A&M University and agreement to abide by world anti-doping rules. "The court understands how unsatisfying this decision will be" for Asinga, if he were "deprived of his athletic career for four years through no fault of his own. Unfortunately, the causes of action he has asserted are not the right fit for the circumstances." Ali Chardon, a lawyer for Asinga, in an email said the decision left her client with "no way to access justice" for losing his track career. "We think the decision is wrong, and are evaluating next steps," Chardon added. PepsiCo, based in Purchase, New York, and Gatorade lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees track and field's anti-doping program, suspended Asinga last May, stripping him of two South American Championship gold medals and his under-20 100 meters record time of 9.89 seconds. Asinga, now 20, also beat American world champion Noah Lyles at 100 meters in a wind-aided 9.83 seconds. In his lawsuit, Asinga said Gatorade gave him gummies tainted by the drug cardarine when he traveled to Los Angeles in July 2023 to accept the company's National Player of the Year Award. He said the AIU panel banned him because he could not provide proof of contamination from a sealed bottle of gummies with the same lot number. Asinga also said Gatorade falsely claimed that the gummies were "certified for sport" by NSF, an independent Michigan-based nongovernmental organization that certifies when products are free from substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The case is Asinga v Gatorade Co, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-05210.
Washington Post
18-03-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Coach of suspended sprinter faces punishment following investigation
Track and field's global anti-doping body suspended a high-profile American high school coach Tuesday after alleging he possessed a banned substance that three of his athletes — including suspended record-breaking sprint phenom Issam Asinga — tested positive for within a 13-month span. After an investigation alongside the United States Anti-Doping Agency, the Athletics Integrity Unit handed Monteverde Academy Coach Gerald Phiri a provisional suspension. The AIU alleged Phiri possessed multiple banned drugs that modulate metabolism and failed to 'cooperate with the investigation by providing false and inaccurate information.' The AIU said it opened an investigation after three of Phiri's athletes tested positive for GW1516 — a drug, known as cardarine, that alters how the body metabolizes fat — between July 2023 and August 2024. The AIU alleged that Phiri, a former Zambian Olympian, possessed GW1516 as an athlete in 2018 and 2019 and possessed meldonium, another banned metabolism drug, in 2024. Phiri plans to appeal the suspension, Montverde Sports Information Manager Michael Damon said in an emailed statement. In July 2023, when he was a sprinter at Montverde, Asinga tested positive for GW1516, which nullified his under-20 world record in the 100 meters and cost him a chance to compete at last year's Paris Olympics for Suriname, his father's native country and the flag he chose to compete under. World Athletics suspended Asinga in May last year. Asinga's final appeal will be heard later this year at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. The case is expected to be heard in April, according to public filings. Asinga sued Gatorade last summer, claiming he had ingested GW1516 through a contaminated package of energy gummies given to him at a Gatorade awards ceremony. (A lab tested the gummies and informed the AIU that they returned positive for GW1516.) Asinga also claimed the gummies were labeled falsely as certifiably tested and that Gatorade delayed in providing Asinga materials he could have used to prove his innocence. Gatorade called the claims 'false.' The lawsuit remains ongoing in the Southern District of New York. Gatorade filed a motion to dismiss the suit in early January. Asinga's lawyers responded in filings that the motion should be denied and 'Issam's claims should move to discovery, where he can begin to learn more about how and why his life became derailed by Gatorade's dangerous product.' Phiri joined Montverde Academy, a Florida prep school known for its elite athletic program, as an assistant coach in 2018 and became the head track and field coach in 2021. Phiri ran collegiately for Texas A&M and represented Zambia at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. 'As this is an ongoing investigation, we have not been provided with any substantive details at this time,' Damon said in the statement. 'In compliance with the suspension, Coach Phiri will also be suspended from Montverde Academy and will not have any personal contact with our student-athletes pending the outcome of the investigation.' GW1516 is illegal for use in food or medication in the United States. According to USADA, it was pulled from clinical trials after it caused cancer when tested on animals.
