Gatlin receives four-year drugs ban

WASHINGTON: Reigning 100-meter Olympic champion Justin Gatlin was suspended for four years for a 2006 doping violation and forfeits his former 100m world record run, the US Anti-Doping Agency announced.

A three-member arbitration panel voted 2-1 to impose a four-year ban upon the 25-year-old American sprinter who captured gold at the 2004 Athens Games.

The punishment stems from a positive test for testosterone by Gatlin at the Kansas Relays on April 22, 2006. Gatlin tested positive for a stimulant at a college meet earlier in his career so was treated as a repeat offender.

Gatlin could extend his 20-month fight by appealing the verdict to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the final legal recourse to overturn what would otherwise likely be a career-ending banishment.

In addition to a four-year ban set to end May 24, 2010, Gatlin must forfeit all results after the positive tests, including his 9.77-second victory in the 100m at the Qatar Super Grand Prix in Doha on May 12, 2006.

That effort matched the then-world record owned by Jamaica's Asafa Powell, who lowered the mark to 9.74 seconds last September in Italy.

Also lost in the doping punishment for elevated testosterone levels was Gatlin's 2006 US 100m crown.

The lengthy majority finding and a dissent from the third arbitrator were released by the panel Monday night.

Gatlin, the 2005 world 100m and 200m champion, was devastated by the decision that could doom his hopes of racing at the Beijing Olympics, the 'Washington Post' reported on Tuesday, citing people close to Gatlin in first revealing Gatlin's fate.

Two of the trio of arbitrators who heard the case July 29-31 declared they could not impose anything less than a four-year ban upon Gatlin because of his prior positive test.

First violations usually draw a two-year ban with life bans possible for repeat offenders.

Gatlin argued to arbitrators that his secret recording of telephone calls with his former coach and assistant coach to gather evidence for a federal steroid investigation should be considered in imposing a sentence.

Arbitrators noted Gatlin's record "reflects extended assistance to the US government which goes far beyond the contemplated assistance to anti-doping sports authorities" in handing down four years rather than a longer ban.

"Mr. Gatlin should be commended for his decision to cooperate with authorities following his positive test," USADA chief executive officer Travis Tygart said.     

"However, these efforts do not completely remove his responsibility for his second doping offense.

"Given his cooperation and the circumstances relating to Mr. Gatlin's first offense, the four-year penalty issued by the arbitration panel is a fair and just outcome."

Gatlin said if he had knowingly taken performance-enhancing drugs, it would have been revealed in 10 telephone calls he recorded in 2006 with former coach Trevor Graham or Randall Evans, Graham's assistant.

Graham has been indicted on charges of lying to federal investigators in the BALCO scandal about his relationship with a confessed steroid dealer.

Jeff Novitzky, the federal agent investigating Graham as well as the BALCO steroid scandal, told the arbitrators that no evidence was uncovered that Gatlin took drugs.

Gatlin also argued that he might have been sabotaged by a massage therapist who could have rubbed a testosterone cream onto Gatlin's legs over being denied a bonus in 2005.

The therapist denied the claim but also said he did not think Gatlin was a dope cheat.

Another part of Gatlin's case was that he would not have tried to sneak testosterone past dope tests at an early season meet then not used it for the remainder of the 2006 season.

Chris Campbell, the arbitrator who dissented in the four-year ban verdict, said Gatlin had proven his sabotage case only 33 percent not the 50.1 percent needed to avoid punishment - a gap Gatlin could try to close before CAS.

Campbell also said Gatlin had been discriminated against under the Americans with Disabilities Act because his first positive was for a stimulant that was included in his medication for attention-deficit disorder.