Montgomery announces retirement, vows not to return prize money

Former world 100 metres record holder Tim Montgomery has announced his retirement from athletics, one day after receiving a two-year doping ban from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

"I'm done. I have retired," Montgomery told Reuters in a telephone call from his residence in Hampton, Virginia on Wednesday.

Montgomery and fellow American sprinter Chryste Gaines were each banned for two years after CAS accepted evidence the pair had taken the designer steroid THG (tetrahydrogestrinone), the product at the centre of the BALCO laboratory doping scandal.

The 30-year-old Montgomery, however, vehemently denies ever knowingly taking a banned substance.

The sprinter also confirmed he had split up with his partner Marion Jones, the triple Olympic champion from the 2000 Sydney Games, who Montgomery believes is also under investigation.

"It's kind of hard to be in the same household when you are going through some of the same things," he said.

"We decided to remain friends so we can concentrate on making a future for our (two-year-old) son. We decided to make a decision to better ourselves for our kid."

Jones has never been charged with a doping violation by USADA and has never failed a doping test.

Montgomery also insisted he will not return the prize money being demanded by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in the wake of his two-year doping ban.

"Hell no," Montgomery said. "I deserve every bit of it. I deserve more than what they are asking back because of the way they went about banning me for two years," he added.

"If I had tested positive, I would give every penny back. But someone telling them I told them something. Come on, this is not high school. They were playing games with my life."