Track and field star Justin Gatlin is back on the tracks preparing for another shot at his career after being suspended for four years after being tested positive on steroids in 2006. The 27-year-old sprinter said that prior to the testing steroid cream was applied on him by a masseuse as an act of vengeance. Trevor Graham, his former coach and trainer, was the one who released the statement and this was the story Gatlin had been telling ever since.
From NY Daily News:
Gatlin has since adopted the argument, although he didn’t fight the penalty from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in August of that year. He faced a lifetime ban, thanks to a prior positive test at the University of Tennessee for amphetamines found in the Attention Deficit Disorder drug Adderall, so Gatlin jumped when USADA offered an eight-year ban with an option to appeal if he acknowledged the tests.
That ban was cut to four years by a USADA arbitration panel early last year, largely because of Gatlin’s claim that his positive test in college occurred because of medication he took for Attention Deficit Disorder. Gatlin added that he assisted the federal BALCO investigation in late 2006, secretly taping phone calls with Graham and testifying against his trainer in 2007.
“And I just turned around and did that stuff,” he says. “If I used steroids, you think I would do that?”
But many are still doubtful that Gatlin was telling the truth. There were some who expressed their dismay and that they lost their respect for someone whom they idolized because he had the makings of a great athlete, especially since he had won in several track meets, including the Olympics. Gatlin is out to prove that he is still the best in the field of track and field despite all the issues hurled at him. He is also aware that the USADA will be keeping him under their watchful eye.
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