Sprint champ Gatlin gets eight-year ban

WORLD and Olympic 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin has been banned for a maximum of eight years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after admitting he committed “a doping violation”.

The 24-year-old American was facing the prospect of a life ban after testing positive for testosterone at the Kansas Relays in Lawrence on April 22.

Gatlin first failed a drugs test five years ago when amphetamines were found in his samples at the USA Junior Championships.

Although the IAAF later accepted he was using the medication to treat Attention Deficit Disorder, it was still registered as a first offence and under the two-strikes rule, Gatlin faced being thrown out of the sport for good.

Meanwhile John Capel and Natalya Sadova are another two big names to fall foul of competition drug tests carried out by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) this year.

The IAAF revealed at their council meeting in Beijing that their controllers had carried out 1,532 tests up to June 30 this year — with 16 proving positive.

American Capel is a former world 200 metres gold medallist, while Sadova is the reigning Olympic discus champion.

Capel has accepted committing a doping violation under IAAF rules when cannabis was found in his sample at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham on February 18.

The 27-year-old has been banned for two years from March 15, it being considered a second offence following a public warning in 2004.

That occurred just before the Olympic Games got underway and saw him withdrawn from the 4x400m relay, when he produced a positive test for marijuana at a team match between the USA, France and Germany in Munich.

With it being his first violation, he did not receive any suspension. But he was warned any other positive test would result in a two-year suspension.

The All-Russian Athletics Federation banned Sadova for two years, when the prohibited substance Methandienone — an anabolic agent — was discovered also in an in-competition test at the IAAF Grand Prix meeting in Hengelo on May 28.

The 34-year-old also won the 2001 World Championships title, but the gold medal was taken away from her when testing positive for caffeine.

IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss revealed there have been 166 unsuccessful attempts to collect out-of-competition samples from athletes this year. From this total, 22 have been defined as missed tests.