Sprinter Justin Gatlin has filed a lawsuit against the United States Anti-Doping Agency, alleging that his four year doping ban violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. Gatlin's suit alleges that penalizing Gatlin for testing positive for a stimulant in 2001 constituted discrimination in the workplace against a person with a disability. The world-class sprinter was taking the medication to treat Attention Deficit Disorder.
The USADA reduced Gatlin's ban by one year after determining that he did not take the drug for doping purposes, but treated him as a repeat offender due to a 2006 offense in which the runner tested positive for testosterone. A January appeal of the four-year ban went 2-1 against Gatlin, but resulted in the reduction of the length of the ban.
Justin Gatlin hopes his civil suit will allow him to compete in Olympic selection trials in Eugene, Oregon, beginning on June 27th. If Gatlin's suit is successful and he's selected for Olympic competition, he and Oscar Pistorius can swap appeal stories between races.
What do you think? Should Gatlin's doping ban be lifted because he took the stimulant to treat ADD, or, in light of his prior doping offense, does he deserve to miss sprinting in Beijing? Leave a comment, or talk about it in Discussions.
