Sprinter Gatlin pursues bid to compete in US Olympic trials

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

PENSACOLA, Florida (AFP) — Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin renewed his challenge of a drugs ban before a US judge on Monday, but the International Olympic Committee said the court had no jurisdiction in the matter.

Gatlin took his case to court after losing his appeal to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport to have a four-year ban for doping reduced.

Gatlin had asked for the suspension to be cut in half, enabling him to compete for a place on the US team for the Beijing Games when the US trials begin on Friday in Eugene, Oregon.

In a letter to the US Olympic Committee, which was filed with the court on Monday, Howard M. Stupp of the IOC's legal affairs department wrote that the sprinter "is not eligible to compete in the 2008 Beijing Games."...