Justin Gatlin’s CAS hearing begins

Justin Gatlin saved his speech for sport’s highest court Wednesday.

The sprinter, who’s seeking a further reduction in a four-year doping ban to defend his 100-meter title at the Beijing Olympics, declined comment before the start of his hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The hearing will continue through Thursday.

Gatlin, who has served half of a four-year ban, tested positive for excessive testosterone at the Kansas Relays in 2006, his second doping violation. He has maintained he never knowingly took a performance-enhancing drug.

Gatlin contends his first doping violation in 2001 should be rescinded because it involved a medicine he was taking for attention deficit disorder. Gatlin was suspended from international competition for two years, but the sport’s governing body reinstated him after one year.

If the 2001 offense is eliminated, Gatlin’s suspension likely would be sliced to two years. That would make him eligible for competition in time for the U.S. Olympic track and field trials, which are June 27-July 6 in Eugene, Ore.

The International Association of Athletics Federations, the sport’s governing body, argues Gatlin should be banned for life but has indicated that restoring Gatlin’s original eight-year suspension would accomplish that.

A U.S. arbitration panel already reduced Gatlin’s suspension to four years from a possible eight-year ban earlier this year.

Source : sports.yahoo.com