COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-
Sprinter Justin Gatlin will have an arbitration hearing in July as he seeks to reduce a possible eight-year ban from track on doping charges, his agent said Wednesday.
The agent, Renaldo Nehemiah, said the hearing will be July 30-31 in Atlanta.
Officials of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in Colorado Springs did not immediately return calls.
Gatlin, the 100-meter gold medalist at the Athens Olympics, tested positive for testosterone and other steroids at the Kansas Relays last year.
He shares the 100-meter world record of 9.77 seconds, though that would be erased if his doping penalty becomes official.
The 2006 test was his second positive, which usually triggers a lifetime ban. An agreement between Gatlin and USADA reduced the ban to a maximum of eight years but gave him the right to seek a further reduction in the ban.
As part of the agreement, Gatlin acknowledged that his positive test was accurate and USADA recognized that Gatlin’s first positive test—for a medication he had been taking for attention deficit disorder—was a unique case. Gatlin also promised to cooperate in USADA’s effort to find other drug cheats.
Gatlin would be 32 years old in 2014, the year he would be eligible to return to the sport under the current ban.
