Beijing Olympics 2008

Justin Gatlin, the 100m Olympic champion, has been banned for four years for a positive drug test in 2006, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said on Tuesday.
The suspension through to May 24, 2010, which was determined by an arbitration panel of three officials in the United States and is half the term initially suggested by the USADA, could end the career of Gatlin if he does not successfully appeal to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) or the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Gatlin confessed that he had tested positive for the banned hormone testosterone at the low-key Kansas Relays meeting in April 2006.
The revelation came as a shock, since Gatlin, an outspoken critic of drugs, appeared to have the world at his feet. He was the Olympic champion, the world champion of the 100m and 200m and had equaled Asafa Powell’s world 100m-record of 9.77 sec.
Gatlin failed a drug test in 2001 for a prescribed medication for Attention Deficit Disorder. He was reinstated by the International Association of Athletics Federations the following year.
A four-year ban ends any hope Gatlin had of defending his Olympic 100m title in Beijing in August.
If there is a lifeline for the 25-year-old, it is in the CAS in Lausanne. The disgraced sprinter can launch an appeal against the ban to the CAS, whose decision is final and binding. However, the IAAF would not let any action by Gatlin go unchallenged.

from: beijing2008.cn