ATHLETICS was left stunned last night after sprinters Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell — two of the sport’s biggest stars — were branded drug cheats.
American Gay, the fastest man over 100m this year having clocked 9.75secs,
admitted last night he had tested positive and was pulling out of next
month’s World Championships in Moscow where he would have been Olympic
champion Usain Bolt’s main rival for gold.
Hours later — with the sport still in shock over former world champion Gay’s
admission — Powell confirmed he was one of FIVE Jamaicans who
had tested positive at his country’s national trials last month along with
Olympic silver medallist Sherone Simpson.
The list of shame does NOT include Bolt, who will bid to re-gain his
100m world title and defend his 200m crown when the championship kicks-off
in Moscow on August 10.
Gay, 30, who was due to compete in Monaco on Friday, tested positive for as
yet unnamed substance on May 16th and is still awaiting the results of the B
sample. He still insists he has never knowingly taken a
performance-enhancing drug.
He said: “I don’t have a sabotage story. I don’t have lies...I basically put
my trust in someone and I was let down. I can’t really say who it is.
“Sometimes a human being naturally, generally trusts somebody. That’s what
people do. I made a mistake. I am pulling out of Monaco and the World
Championships.”
Gay won world 100m and 200m gold in 2007 but has since suffered a series of
injuries which wrecked his Olympic hopes. At London 2012 he was beaten to
100m bronze by fellow American Justin Gatlin, who was booed on the podium
for being a former drug cheat himself.
Many had wanted Gay to beat Gatlin and win a medal that night and this year —
finally free of injuries — his form suggested that he could be a genuine
threat to Bolt over both the 100m and 200m in Moscow.
He was also back with long-time coach Lance Baumann — who in 2006 served a
year in jail for fraud.
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