Reigning Olympic sprint champ heads to appeal over drugs ban

Posted at 6:20pm on 20 May 2008

The reigning Olympic 100-metre champion Justin Gatlin will plead his case to have a doping suspension reduced to the Court of Arbitration for Sport next week in a bid to defend his title at Beijing.

Gatlin's case will go before the court in Switzerland with the expectation a ruling will come in time for Gatlin to qualify for the US Olympic trials that begin in late June.

Gatlin received a four-year ban from a positive test for testosterone at a meetin in April 2006.

It wiped out a 9.77-second victory in Doha three weeks later that equalled the then-world record.

Gatlin was treated as a repeat offender after testing positive in 2001 for a stimulant in an attention-deficit disorder medication, a punishment Gatlin contends violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.