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World champion banned for life
US sprinter, 400m world champion Jerome Young has been banned for life for a second doping violation, according to rules of the International Athletics Federation. The US Anti-Doping Agency issued a statement Wednesday, adding that the ban took effect on November 3.
Young tested positive for human recombinant Erythropoietin, a blood-boosting agent banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations or IAAF in July this year. He was caught for taking another stimulator that enhances athletic performance in June 1999. Under IAAF rules, which incorporate the World Anti-Doping Code, the sanction for a second doping offense is a lifetime suspension. Young is the first top sprinter to test positive for EPO which has been a popular drug with endurance athletes and cyclists for over 15 years. It boosts performance by increasing the volume of oxygen-rich red blood cells in the blood. Young's 1999 doping case is still causing controversy because the following year he was part of the US 4x400m relay team that won the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics. That team also included 400m specialist Michael Johnson, a triple Olympic champion in individual events who is now retired from the sport. The US athletics federation took no action against Young and it was only three years later just before the Paris world championships that his failed drug test was revealed in newspaper reports. The International Olympic Committee has ruled that all of Young's results for two years from his failed 1999 test must be annulled, an action that may strip the Americans of their 2000 Olympic relay gold. |
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