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Sprinter Gatlin pursues bid to compete in US Olympic trials
2008-06-23
PENSACOLA, Florida (AFP) - Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin renewed his challenge of a drugs ban before a US judge on Monday, but the International Olympic Committee said the court had no jurisdiction in the matter. Gatlin took his case to court after losing his appeal to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport to have a four-year ban for doping reduced. Gatlin had asked for the suspension to be cut in half, enabling him to compete for a place on the US team for the Beijing Games when the US trials begin on Friday in Eugene, Oregon. In a letter to the US Olympic Committee, which was filed with the court on Monday, Howard M. Stupp of the IOC's legal affairs department wrote that the sprinter "is not eligible to compete in the 2008 Beijing Games." "I point out that Mr. Gatlin's case was appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the CAS confirmed the sanction against him," Stupp wrote. "This was in accordance with the rules applicable to Mr. Gatlin. Should he wish to appeal this CAS decision, he must do so before the Swiss Federal Court." Monday's hearing was before US federal judge Lacey A. Collier. On Friday, Collier granted a 10-day temporary restraining order prohibiting US sports authorities from barring Gatlin from the trials. Gatlin, 26, was banned from track and field after testing positive for testosterone at the Kansas Relays in 2006. That positive result saw his world record-equalling run of 9.77sec in Doha three weeks erased from the books. It was also a second doping offense, following a 2001 violation for a banned stimulant. Because he took that drug to treat attention deficit disorder, Gatlin and his lawyers have claimed in a civil lawsuit against the US Anti-Doping Agency and other US sports bodies that the length of his current suspension constitutes discrimination against the disabled.
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