A brief look at some of the track and Olympic cast of shady characters who won tainted glory for the US track team in Olympic games and world championships. This cast appears dirtier than an old cinder track.
Marion Jones: arguably the greatest female tack track athlete of the past decade. After denying PED use for years, she is now serving hard time in a Texas prison for lying about PED use to federal investigators.
Tim Montgomery: Once world record holder in the 100M dash, he was recently sentenced to
hard time
for a fraud scheme, and was recently arrested on heroin charges. The IAAF stripped Montgomery's world record like a thief would strip an old car when his BALCO connection became public.
Trevor Graham: coach of elite track athletes at Sprint Capital USA in North Carolina. Should have been 'Dope USA' considering the athletes he coached now enshrined in either the doping hall of fame, or federal prison or both.
Andrew Pettigrew: owner of several 4x400 gold medals (see below), now a coach at University of 
North
Carolina. Hired for his vast knowledge of sprinting, and perhaps vast experience with HGH and EPO.
CJ Hunter: once husband of Marion Jones, was one more Olympic thrower who doped. He got caught. Hunter left the Sydney Olympics in disgrace (he says to cover for then wife Marion). Hunter implicated Graham in doping as far back as 2005.
Angel "Memo" Heredia: in the word's of the SF Chronicle's Gwen Knapp: Heredia, the Mexican athlete-turned-dealer-turned-witness, got help with a work visa in the United States because of his testimony. His most relevant remark on the case came not in court, but in an interview with the Sunday Times of London: "Conte was sent to jail, I don't know what is going to happen to me, but I could go to jail, too. But I can tell you, nothing is going to stop. Athletes are still going to South Africa to train; they're still doping."
Jerome Young: (ESPN) Young, the 2003 world champion in the 400 meters, was banned for
life last yea
r
by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency following a second
doping offense. He tested positive for EPO at a Paris meet in July
2004. He is believed to be the first sprinter to test positive for
EPO, popular with endurance runners and cyclists. Young's 4x400 Gold in Sydney remains controversial. The other members of the 4x400 team retained their gold medals on appeal (how ironic) while Young lost his. Multiple positives for things like nandrolone.
Dennis Mitchell: (from the USAToday): Young ran in the opening heat and semifinal round of the relay in the
2000 Olympics. Michael Johnson anchored the team in the final to win
the last of his 14 Olympic and world championship gold medals. Other
members of the team were Antonio Pettigrew, Angelo Taylor, and twin
brothers Alvin and Calvin Harrison.
Justin Gatlin: Another world record holder in the 100M, this Tennessee sprinter tested positive at a
Kansas meet in 2006 for testosterone, a finding which completely baffles him (SI). His early career mysterious positive for a stimulant, led to an another apparently baffling 4 year suspension from track. Gatlin wants back in for the 2008 Olympics, which may have motivated him to record damning phone conversations with his old coach Graham. That's probably not going down well at the Sprint Capital USA/Trevor Graham reunion parties in the future.
Twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison (USA Today): The Harrisons also were punished in subsequent doping
cases. Alvin
Harrison agreed to a four-year ban after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency
obtained doping evidence from the U.S. Senate. Calvin Harrison, who
still had a 1993 doping positive on his record, tested positive for
modafinil in 2003 and was banned for two years
Quoting from above, "Marion Jones: arguably the greatest female tack (sic) athlete of the past decade". Tack athlete - I like it! Tacky trackies - what could better describe Marion Jones and her ilk?
Posted by: Chris Colenso-Dunne | 05/31/2008 at 21:56
We will twy to twack down the twicky fella who wote this...
- Elmer Fudd
Posted by: grg | 05/31/2008 at 23:55