Tim Montgomery of the U.S. looks back at the scoreboard after running in a 100m quarterfinal heat at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Track and Field in Sacramento in this July 10, 2004. - FILE
london (ap)
TIM MONTGOMERY WAS suspended for two years for doping yesterday and the 100-metre world record he once held was wiped from the books.
Another U.S. sprinter implicated in the BALCO scandal, two-time Olympic relay medalist Chryste Gaines, also received a two-year ban from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Neither runner tested positive for drugs. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency ( USADA) sought the bans based on evidence gathered in the criminal investigation of Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative.
USADA had requested four-year suspensions for both runners, but CAS - the highest court in sports - cut the penalty in half.
RETROACTIVE BANS
The bans began retroactively on June 6, 2005. In addition, all of Montgomery's results and prize money since March 31, 2001, and Gaines' performances since November 30, 2003, were annulled.
That means Montgomery's former world 100-metre record is wiped off the books. He ran 9.78 seconds in Paris in September 2002. The record has since been broken by Jamaica's Asafa Powell, who clocked 9.77 on June 14 in Athens, Greece.
Montgomery will also lose the 100-metre silver medal from the 2001 World Championships, a race won by former record holder Maurice Greene.
The silver will now go to fellow American Bernard Williams, with Ato Boldon going from fourth to bronze.
Montgomery also forfeits his gold medal in the 400-metre relay from the 2001 worlds. Mickey Grimes, Williams and Dennis Mitchell were the other members of the relay team.
CAS said it had "strong, indeed uncontroverted, evidence of doping" by both Montgomery and Gaines.
The court said it based its ruling largely on the testimony of Kelli White, a former world sprint champion who was suspended for two years in 2004 in the BALCO case.
FATAL TESTIMONY
White testified that Montgomery and Gaines both admitted to her that they used a prohibited substance provided by BALCO.
CAS said White's testimony was "fatal" to both athletes' cases.
"The panel unanimously found that Ms. White's testimony was both credible and sufficient to establish that the athletes had indeed admitted to have used prohibited substances in violation of applicable anti-doping rules," CAS said.
The panel said Montgomery and Gaines both declined to testify at their hearings.
USADA can ban athletes without a positive doping test if there is other sufficient evidence. The agency reviewed thousands of documents seized by federal investigators looking into the BALCO case.
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