May 23, 2008
Pettigrew Admits to Doping, Jeopardizing Relay Gold Medals By DUFF WILSONSAN FRANCISCO — The Olympic gold medalist and former world champion sprinter Antonio Pettigrew acknowledged in federal court Thursday that he used performance-enhancing drugs from 1997 to 2001.
Pettigrew’s admission triggered an antidoping case that could cost him and his United States teammates the gold medals they won in the 4x400-meter relay in the 2000 Olympics and the 2001 world championship.
Testifying publicly at the trial of his former coach Trevor Graham, Pettigrew, who was visibly downcast, said, “I’m in it now, and I have to face the consequences.”
Jim Scherr, chief executive of the United States Olympic Committee, said in a statement late Thursday, “If an athlete who ran in the finals knowingly and purposely engaged in cheating, the medals won by the entire team are tarnished and, in our view, should be returned.”
Pettigrew, 40, has never tested positive for drugs, but he said he used human growth hormone to become stronger and took the blood-boosting drug EPO to improve his endurance at Graham’s suggestion. He was subpoenaed for the trial, forced to testify under penalty of perjury, and declined comment afterward.
The scope of the penalties could be worse but for an eight-year statute of limitations on doping violations in track and field. Pettigrew also helped the United States win world titles in 1997 and 1999 and was part of a world-record-setting relay team in 1998 — years when he said he took performance-enhancing drugs.
Stephen A. Starks, legal affairs director for the United States Anti-Doping Agency, took notes throughout Pettigrew’s testimony. Travis T. Tygart, chief executive of the agency, said in a telephone interview, “We can’t comment on the testimony, but we will pursue all potential doping violations based on the evidence, and we will continue to work with the federal investigators on this.”
Pettigrew’s admission would be considered a “nonanalytical positive” and constitute a violation. Marion Jones, who likewise never failed a drug test, was stripped of five medals from the 2000 Olympics last October after she admitted to taking steroids from September 2000 to July 2001. The International Olympic Committee also stripped the medals of seven of Jones’s teammates in two relay races, but the runners are appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Pettigrew’s Olympic relay teammates were Michael Johnson, Angelo Taylor, Jerome Young and the twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison.
The Harrisons have been banned for doping offenses that were not committed in the Olympic year. Young previously lost his gold medal as an alternate in that race and was banned for life for two doping offenses, but his teammates were allowed to keep their medals after the Court of Arbitration for Sport found that Young had not doped during the Olympics and because he had not run in the final.
Young also testified in the Graham trial Thursday. He said he doped from 1999 to 2003. He said Graham gave him drugs and showed him how to inject them.
His testimony adds to the likelihood of the runners losing their medals — and to the shame being heaped on the United States track and field program by widespread doping violations on the eve of another Olympics.
Pettigrew is an assistant track coach at the University of North Carolina. He is a former officer of USA Track & Field’s Athletes Advisory Committee and a former athlete representative to the U.S.O.C.
He testified that he was not truthful with federal agents in February 2005, when he was interviewed as part of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative investigation. Asked why, Pettigrew said, “Things coming out in my past that I did and that I knew was wrong.” He said he told the truth to a grand jury in 2006.
Graham, who also coached Jones, is charged with three felonies, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, for allegedly making false statements to federal investigators in 2004 about a drug supplier. The prosecution rested its case Thursday afternoon after five athletes testified against Graham.
The defense lawyer, William P. Keane, said he may call only one witness when the trial resumes Tuesday.
A verdict is possible soon after that.
Dr. Larry Bowers, senior managing director of Usada, who also testified against Graham, said in an interview that antidoping programs were making “serious progress” as shown by the results of women’s field events, easily influenced by steroids. He noted those results have declined dramatically over the last 15 years.
If the United States loses the Olympic gold in the men’s 4x400, it would go to Nigeria, which won the silver medal, with Jamaica and the Bahamas moving up. Similarly, the Bahamas, Jamaica and Poland would move up if the United States lost the 2001 world championship medal.
Still on track’s record book is the world-record time of 2 minutes 54.2 seconds in the men’s 4x400-meter relay, set in 1998. Pettigrew and Young ran that race, along with Johnson and Tyree Washington. Pettigrew is the only one of that group to admit to doping before 1998.
Source