Powell, the former world record holder for 100m who trains in the same group as Fraser under coach Stephen Francis, said he had only just heard about the finding after waking up in his hotel.

"I don’t know what exactly it is," he said.

Asked if, given the fact that eight Jamaican athletes had had minor infringements of the doping code within the last year, there was any problem with the rules being communicated fully, Powell responded: "I don’t know.

"I’m getting the message.

"Everyone has to be careful in sport no matter who they are.

"I haven’t spoken to Shelly-Ann yet.

"I only woke up an hour ago.

"But I will be calling her.

"If she’s up.

"It’s very sad.

"Sad that it’s happened to someone from my camp, but it would still be sad no matter who it was."

Sitting alongside Powell, Gay dismissed comments made earlier in the day by Ben Johnson, whose Olympic 100m title was stripped from him in 1988 after he tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol, that performances in the 100m could not be achieved without taking performance-enhancing substances.

"I would love to get the same attention that he gets after he has retired," said Gay, the 2007 world 100m and 200 champion.

"What he has to say is almost irrelevant in my eyes. Just because he took drugs to achieve what he did, doesn’t mean everyone else has to."

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