'Steroid' massage therapist Whetstine claims Nike rep spiked his face

In a fairly bizarre lawsuit, Chris Whetstine  - the massage therapist Justin Gatlin claimed used steroids during a message thus causing Gatlin to fail a doping test, is suing a Nike rep for landing the wrong way on his face.  Report from the Eugene Register-Guard.

Whetstine, a well known athletic massage therapist, says former long jumper and current Nike rep Llewellyn Starks, got all liquored up then attacked Whetstine during a track meet in 2006.  Further, the suit says Llewellyn became inebriated on Nike's dime which means Nike is liable for damages too.

A saga involving a Eugene massage therapist, an ex-athlete, an assault and a doping scandal has spilled over into court in a lawsuit that seeks almost $4 million from the ex-athlete and his employer, Nike Inc.

The suit was filed this week in Lane County Circuit Court by attorneys representing Chris Whetstine, the massage therapist, who has worked with some of the country's top athletes. It claims that Whetstine was viciously assaulted last year by former long jumper Llewellyn Starks, who was at the time and still is a sports marketing representative for Beaverton-based Nike.

In the lawsuit, attorneys allege that Whetstine suffered injuries to his face, head and both hands when he was attacked by Starks on June 22, 2006, outside a hotel in Indianapolis during the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

The lawsuit claims that Starks was there on Nike business and had gotten extremely drunk on Nike's tab before allegedly assaulting Whetstine.

The Nation suspects that injuries to the face and both hands would interfere a bit with those steroid-infested massages Gatlin claims Whetstine delivered to athletes.  However, Nike is not going to let this one run wild:

Nike spokesman Vada Manager on Friday said the company will challenge those claims and others made in the suit.

"Nike hasn't yet had the opportunity to review the actual complaint, but is familiar with the allegations and does not believe there is any basis for them," he said in an e-mail. "We will respond accordingly to the court."

The Whetstine-Gatlin episode contained a large measure of bizarreness too.  Although Gatlin's charges evaporated, ESPN's Wayne Drehs reports in 2006 about the deal, discussing Whetstine, Gatlin, and scandal-ridden track coach Trevor Graham:

Graham contends that at the Kansas Relays, Gatlin was heading for doping control when Whetstine intervened and insisted the sprinter needed a quick massage. Graham said Whetstine then pulled a tube out of his pocket with a crooked "S" on it and applied the cream to Gatlin's inner thigh and the back of his knee.

"I walked over to him and just gave him this look like, 'What the hell is going on?'" Graham told ESPN.com. "He turned his back and kept turning around. So we went on to doping. I looked back at Chris and Chris is packing up his table real fast, trying to get out of there."

More on the charges:

Whetstine was assaulted just before he was swept up in a scandal involving Olympic gold medal sprinter Justin Gatlin, who a month later revealed that he had tested positive for testosterone after a meet that April. Shortly after that disclosure, Gatlin's coach, Trevor Graham, accused Whetstine of surreptitiously using a steroid cream on Gatlin during a post-race massage at the April meet.

That allegation against Whetstine fizzled, however. Gatlin subsequently accepted the results of the drug test and did not place blame on anyone else. Track authorities banned him for eight years, but he sought arbitration. He will argue for a shorter ban at a hearing set for July 30-31 in Atlanta.

No one ever established any connection between the assault on Whetstine and the doping allegation - other than that they occurred within within weeks of each other. Whetstine filed a police report, but a spokesman for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said Whetstine declined to prosecute and Starks never was charged with any crime.

Attorneys for Whetstine's civil suit in Lane County Circuit Court did not return a call seeking comment.

Whetstine has worked with many of the country's premier athletes, including sprinter Marion Jones and golfer Ben Crane. He was in charge of massage therapy at the Prefontaine Classic for almost 10 years before being injured last June.

He worked on a contract basis for Nike and traveled extensively to treat athletes, including Gatlin, at sports events around the world. Manager said he does not believe that Whetstine has worked for the company recently.

The suit accuses Nike of providing Starks with money when it "should have known that he would use said funds to purchase excessive amounts of alcohol for himself and others." It also accuses the company of failing to supervise Starks and not providing employees with guidelines on how to conduct themselves while on company business.