Athletics: Graham Banned By Us Olympic Body

The US Olympic committee has banned Justlin Gatlin's coach, Trevor Graham, from using any of its training facilities because of his record of mentoring athletes who have used performance- enhancing drugs. The committee said its decision was based on the unusual number of athletes he has coached who have been convicted of doping offences.

Gatlin, the Olympic and world 100 metres champion who faces a life ban after testing positive for testosterone, is set to become the 11th athlete coached by Graham to be suspended for drugs. The move follows a decision yesterday by the organisers of the Berlin Golden League meeting who said Graham's athletes would not be welcome there next month.

"We are today notifying Trevor Graham in writing that he is prohibited from using any of our training centres or training sites," said the US Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth.

The Jamaican-born coach is himself facing a two-year ban from the International Association of Athletics Federations if it is proved he had anything to do with the positive test but it seems he is suffering the backlash already.

Earlier yesterday organisers of the lucrative Berlin event said athletes trained by Graham would not be invited to the September 3 meeting.

"The nine athletes under Trevor Graham will not be invited to Berlin," said Gerhard Janetzky, the race organiser. Among the athletes affected are Shawn Crawford, the Olympic 200m champion, and Me'Lisa Barber, the world indoor 60m champion. Neither has ever failed a drugs test.

Berlin has also decided to ban Marion Jones, winner of a record five Olympic medals in the 2000 Games in Sydney. The sprinter has been implicated in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative scandal although she has never failed a drugs test or been formally charged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Jones worked under Graham between 1997 and 2002 along with first her husband, the shot putter CJ Hunter, who tested positive for nandrolone, and then her new partner, Tim Montgomery, who was banned for two years and stripped of his world 100m record because of evidence against him gathered in the course of the Balco investigation.

Jones has always denied taking any performance-enhancing drugs.

Janetzky said he was disappointed that not all the European meetings took the same stance, a clear criticism of Fast Track, the organiser of the Norwich Union London grand prix, which invited Jones to compete at Crystal Palace last Friday where she was given a warm welcome by the capacity crowd of 17,500.

He said she "belonged to the circle of suspected even if nothing has been proven".