Jolted by positive doping tests against two of its most visible athletes in recent days, the U.S. Olympic Committee has prohibited controversial track coach Trevor Graham from using any of its training facilities.
Graham coaches sprinter Justin Gatlin, the co-holder of the 100-meter world record who tested positive for performance-enhancing testosterone at a meet in April. Graham has coached at least six athletes who have been sanctioned for doping offenses, including former 100-meter world record holder Tim Montgomery. Others include Michelle Collins, Jerome Young and Alvin Harrison.
Officials of USA Track & Field met with Gatlin two years ago, urging him to find a different coach.
Graham is the first coach to be permanently banned from the U.S. Olympic Training Centers.
“Based on the unusual number of athletes he has coached who have been convicted of doping offenses, we are notifying Trevor Graham in writing that he is prohibited from using any of our training centers or training sites,” USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth said Thursday during a media teleconference marking two years until the Beijing Olympics.
News of Gatlin’s positive test came while the Olympic sports world was reeling from the news that tests indicate Floyd Landis, winner of the Tour de France, had an excessive level of testosterone.
“While good progress has been made … a great deal more must be done if we are going to succeed,” Ueberroth said. “The news this last few weeks regarding two athletes from two different sports is a cold reminder that we’re not winning the battle.”
Coaches have the same right to due process under the U.S. Amateur Sports Act as athletes, so the USOC and USATF have limited means to punish them. Coaches can be prosecuted for doping offenses and banned from the sport, but those decisions have to come from USADA.
Getting evidence against dirty coaches is more difficult for USADA than making cases against athletes because it can test the athletes. USADA has jurisdiction over coaches but must find other ways to prove cases against them.
“As it relates to individuals who work with our athletes – coaches, trainers, agents and others – we will do everything we can to hold those people accountable,” USOC chief executive Jim Scherr said. “If they are influencing, encouraging or facilitating athletes using performance-enhancing drugs, we have no tolerance for them nor their methods, and we will do what we can to restrict their access to our athletes.”
Ueberroth said the USOC soon will issue a “National Call to Action,” seeking to get more support from the federal government and other sports entities, professional and amateur.
“This is a national issue, and nothing less than this effort will be needed as a collaborative effort involving every segment of sport if we are going to succeed,” Ueberroth said. “If we stand still, we run the risk of losing an entire generation of sports participants and sports fans. Anybody who cares about sport in the country has a vested interest in this outcome.”
Staff writer John Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com.
