Coach claims Gatlin was unaware of steroid
WASHINGTON – U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin unwittingly had testosterone cream massaged into his legs by a masseuse who carried a grudge against him before the April race at which he tested positive for steroids, Gatlin’s coach Trevor Graham said by phone Sunday.
Graham said Gatlin, who faces a lifetime ban from track and field for the positive test for the anabolic steroid, thought the cream was a harmless lotion. Graham said when he walked in on the massage session the masseuse hurriedly stuffed a white jar of the substance in his pocket.
“We know who the person is who actually did this,” Graham said by phone from Raleigh, N.C., the home base of his Sprint Capitol team. “Justin is devastated. Myself, too. We’re extremely (upset) right now. We are trying to go out and make sure we can prove his innocence, and we hope this individual has the guts to come forward and say he did it.”
Gatlin’s lawyer, Cameron Myler, declined to confirm Graham’s account but said Gatlin intended to prove he was not responsible for the positive test. World Anti-Doping Agency rules allow some latitude in the punishment of positive tests that involve special circumstances, but the rules hold athletes accountable for any substance found in their bodies regardless of how it got there.
Graham said Gatlin’s positive showed only a small amount of synthetic testosterone or its precursors, so no natural explanation can be offered for it. Because Gatlin, 24, tested positive in 2001 for a stimulant found in his prescription medicine for attention-deficit disorder, he faces the lifetime ban rather than the typical two-year ban for a first-time doping offense for testosterone.
Graham said he had hired a private investigator to tail the masseuse and was prepared to seek criminal charges against him. Graham said the masseuse, who had been fired by Graham and rehired in April, denied the charge when confronted with it. Graham speculated the masseuse believed Gatlin had requested his firing.
“I definitely can confirm we can look into different options as to how the positive test could have happened,” said Myler, who is handling the case with colleague Brian Maas. “But I cannot confirm anything Trevor said, as his comments were not made in coordination with us.”
Graham has coached at least six athletes who have been banned for doping violations and The New York Times reported he has been the subject of question in the investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) performance-enhancing drug scandal. He has repeatedly denied involvement in drugs.