Washington: Olympic 100-metre champion Jason Gatlin has admitted using steroids and accepted an eight-year ban from competition, avoiding a lifetime suspension in return for cooperating in anti-doping efforts, the US Anti-Doping Agency said on Tuesday.
Gatlin, 24, also lost the 100-metre world record of 9.77 seconds he shares with Jamaica's Asafa Powell.
The American was previously banned for a year for using a prescription drug that contained a banned stimulant. Normally, he would have faced a lifetime ban for a second doping offence.
But Gatlin reduced the penalty by agreeing to provide information that may assist in anti-doping efforts, US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said in a statement.
Gatlin ran the sprint record on May 12 at Doha but later acknowledged he had tested positive for steroids at an April 22 meet in the US.
Under Tuesday's decision, he agreed that the positive test constitutes a doping violation and forfeits all competitive results starting April 22, USADA said.
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