Justin Gatlin - file
new york (ap)
Justin Gatlin saved his speech for sports' highest court yesterday.
The American sprinter, who's seeking a further reduction in a four-year doping ban to defend his 100-meter title at the Beijing Olympics, declined to comment before the start of his hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The hearing will continue today.
Gatlin, who has served half of a four-year ban, tested positive for excessive testosterone at the Kansas Relays in 2006,
his second doping violation. He has maintained that he never knowingly took a performance-enhancing drug.
Attention deficit disorder
Gatlin contends that his first doping violation in 2001 should be rescinded because it involved a medicine he was taking for attention deficit disorder. Gatlin was suspended from international competition for two years, but the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) reinstated him after one year.
If the 2001 offence is eliminated, Gatlin's suspension would be likely sliced to two years. That would make him eligible for competition in time for the US Olympic athletics trials, which are to take place on June 27 to July 6 in Eugene, Oregon.
The IAAF argues Gatlin should be banned for life but has indicated that restoring Gatlin's original eight-year suspension would accomplish that.
A US arbitration panel already reduced Gatlin's suspension to four years from a possible eight-year ban earlier this year.
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