Another American champion was hit with a shocking positive drug test Saturday — Olympic and world 100-meter titlist Justin Gatlin.
Gatlin said he has been informed that he tested positive for testosterone or other prohibited steroids — the same violation that, only two days ago, threw Floyd Landis' victory in the Tour de France into question.
Gatlin, who positioned himself as a leader in trying to prove track and field is a clean sport, said in a statement released through his publicist that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency informed him of the test taken after a relay race in Kansas in April.
He said he will cooperate with USADA "and hope that when all the facts are revealed it will be determined that I have done nothing wrong."
"I cannot account for these results, because I have never knowingly used any banned substance or authorized anyone else to administer such a substance to me," Gatlin said. "In the course of my entire professional career, I have been tested more than 100 times . . . All of the tests this season, including the out-of-competition and in-competition tests conducted just before and after the race in Kansas, were negative."
Gatlin, the co-world record holder with Jamaica's Asafa Powell in the 100, is coached by Trevor Graham, whose former pupils include Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones, both of whom have both been prominently mentioned in the BALCO steroids investigation. Several athletes coached by Graham have been suspended or banned for doping.
A person identifying himself as Graham's son answered Graham's phone and said the coach was not immediately available.
Gatlin's revelation came just days after Landis tested positive for a testosterone imbalance after his stirring comeback victory at the Tour de France. Landis claims his body's natural metabolism caused the result.
The test on the cyclist measured the ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in his system and found an imbalance. Gatlin's test was different. Called a carbon-isotope ratio test, it is essentially a test that looks only at testosterone, not epitestosterone, and can determine whether the testosterone in a person's system is natural or unnatural.
In his statement, Gatlin said he tested positive for "testosterone or its precursors." "Precursors" is another term for anabolic steroids.
One of the loudest voices in the quest to clean up his sport, Gatlin he was "particularly sensitive to this issue" because he tested positive in college for a banned substance contained in Adderall, which he took to calm attention deficit disorder. He served a two-year ban in international competition after that infraction, meaning another positive test could result in a lifetime ban.
"That experience made me even more vigilant to make certain that I not come into contact with any banned substance for any reason whatsoever, because any additional anti-doping rule offense could mean a lifetime ban from the sport that I love," Gatlin said.