|
SAN FRANCISCO: Olympic 400-meter relay gold medallist and world
record-setter Antonio Pettigrew admitted doping Thursday as he
testified in the perjury trial of athletics coach Trevor Graham, The
New York Times reported.
Pettigrew, 40, was part of the US 4x400m relay
team that won gold in Sydney in 2000.
The American never tested positive in his
athletics career in which he also earned the 400m gold in the 1991
World Championships and the world relay gold in 1997, 1999 and 2001.
Pettigrew, who once trained under Graham, was
called to testify before US District Judge Susan Illston as he was
implicated by the main prosecution witness at the trial, Angel
Heredia.
Heredia, a self-described steroids dealer from
Mexico, alleged Pettigrew and others received banned,
performance-enhancing drugs from him through Graham.
Graham, who also coached drug-disgraced sprint
stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, has pleaded not guilty to
three counts of lying to federal agents investigating the
distribution of performance-enhancing drugs during interviews with
them in 2004.
“I’m in it now, and I have to face the
consequences,” Pettigrew said, according to a New York Times
report posted on the newspaper’s website.
“Things coming out in my past that I did and
that I knew was wrong,” Pettigrew said of his motivation for
lying. Later, he said, he told the truth to a grand jury.
Pettigrew’s confession means the United States
could be stripped of the 4x400m relay gold won in Sydney.
-- AFP
|
