Athletics: Montgomery given two-year drug ban

RALEIGH, North Carolina - American sprinter Tim Montgomery may retire from athletics after being hit with a two-year ban which he said made no sense.

The former world 100m record holder was banned today by the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for doping offences related to the BALCO laboratory in California.

"His exact words were 'This does not make any sense. Please explain it to me'," said Montgomery's coach Steve Riddick in a telephone interview from Hampton, Virginia.

"At first, he said, 'I'm done.' But I don't think he is.

"I think that was just his initial reaction. If he trains like he did last year and the following year he will be ready to run (in 2007)."

Riddick echoed Montgomery's feelings about CAS who ruled that all Montgomery's results from March 31, 2001, the date from which he admitted taking drugs, should be annulled and his earnings confiscated.

CAS said Montgomery had told former double world sprint champion Kelli White he had used the designer steroid THG (tetrahydrogestrinone) produced by the BALCO laboratory and known colloquially as the "clear".

"This does not make any sense to me based on what Kelli White said. When we start getting athletes suspended based on what somebody said, you see what gate that opens up," said Riddick.

"This does not make sense, especially based on what somebody said and that somebody said she had a sleeping disorder from childhood, tested positive at the world championships, and then came back and said something (else).

"This is the same person who cried to this nation that she had a sleeping disorder since childhood. Now she is preaching the gospel."

White was suspended for two years after admitting using banned drugs, including THG and the blood booster EPO (erythropoietin).

- REUTERS