Athletics: Sprint champ may lose his record over drug violation

The US Anti-Doping Agency yesterday said it would seek a maximum ban of eight years for Olympic sprint champion Justin Gatlin after he agreed his positive drugs test was a doping violation.

Gatlin, who agreed to co-operate with USADA to eradicate drug use, would lose the world 100m record of 9.77s he shared with Jamaican Asafa Powell unless the proposed ban was overturned in an arbitration hearing, USADA said.

Gatlin tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone in April, for reasons he said he did not know.

It was his second positive test, which could have resulted in a life ban under anti-doping rules.

Gatlin's attorney John Collins said the 24-year-old world champion would seek a suspension far less than eight years through arbitration.

"The last time I represented Justin, the [arbitration] panel specifically found that he neither cheated nor intended to cheat, and I expect when all facts and circumstances in this case come out, there will be a similar finding," Collins said.

Gatlin tested positive in 2001 for an amphetamine contained in a medication he had been taking for 10 years for Attention Deficit Disorder and was suspended for two years.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) later found Gatlin had not intentionally committed a doping violation and reinstated him after one year.

However, the IAAF warned Gatlin he would face a life ban if he was charged with another doping offence.

USADA said the circumstances of Gatlin's first offence put the violation in a unique category.

"Given these circumstances and consistent with the international CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) precedent, a maximum of an eight-year suspension is a fair and just outcome," USADA chief executive officer Terry Madden said.

- REUTERS