Anti-drugs campaigners acclaim Montgomery decision
Anti-doping campaigners have acclaimed a decision to ban US sprinters Tim Montgomery and Chryste Gaines for two years even though neither athlete has ever tested positive for drugs. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) accepted evidence from the US...
Anti-doping campaigners have acclaimed a decision to ban US sprinters Tim Montgomery and Chryste Gaines for two years even though neither athlete has ever tested positive for drugs.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) accepted evidence from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) that the pair had admitted taking the designer steroid THG.
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president Lamine Diack said the decisions, based on statements from former double world sprint champion Kelli White, were particularly significant.
"This is a landmark CAS decision and one that the IAAF welcomes as it continues to pursue its anti-doping fight with the utmost vigour," Diack said in a statement on the world governing body's website.
Five athletes, including White, have now been banned for non-analytical positives since federal investigators raided the BALCO laboratory in California two years ago.
Montgomery, 30, has also had all his results annulled since March 31, 2001, and has been asked to return all his prize and appearance money since that time. CAS said that was the date he had told White he had started using THG.
IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said the world governing body would be asking Montgomery to return his earnings.
"The rules are clear," he said. "We will be asking for the money back."
American governing body USA Track & Field said Maurice Greene's 1999 100 metres time of 9.79 seconds would now be recognised as the US record.
Montgomery clocked a then world record of 9.78 at the 2002 Paris grand prix final.
"It is sad when any athlete makes the tragic decision to cheat because it robs other athletes of their deserved recognition and hurts our sport," USA Track & Field chief executive Craig Masback said.
Britain's Dwain Chambers, who was banned for two years after a positive test for THG, finished second to Montgomery in Paris in 9.87 seconds, equalling compatriot Linford Christie's European record.
He is now likely to lose that mark as well the European title he won in the same year after admitting at the weekend that he had been taking THG since the start of 2002.
Gaines's attorney Cameron Myler said the CAS panel had decided its case based on the evidence of one athlete.
"I think the question is still out there," she told Reuters. "How much evidence is enough and what kind of evidence is enough?
"This decision may have added to the body of case law out there. There are a couple of other decisions that address this kind of situation but I don't think it is definitive."