By DPA,
Lausanne (Switzerland) : US sprinter Justin Gatlin will discover next week whether he has a chance of competing this summer at the Olympic Games.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said Thursday that a verdict on the Olympic 100-metre champion’s appeal of his doping ban will be announced June 6. The date was announced at the end of a two-day hearing attended by Gatlin before a CAS panel in New York.
Gatlin, 26, is seeking a further reduction of a four-year suspension imposed after he had tested positive for excessive testosterone levels in a second doping violation.
An eight-year ban was already reduced by a US arbitration panel earlier this year.
The sprinter has insisted he never knowingly took a performance-enhancing drug. He claims a first doping violation in 2001 should be rescinded because it involved a medicine he was taking for attention-deficit disorder.
If the appeal is successful, his suspension could be cut to two years, making him eligible for the US Olympic track and field trials starting June 27 in Eugene, Oregon.