The United States 4X400 relay team from the 2003 world championships will have to give back their gold medal.
The world’s governing body of track and field stripped the U.S. team of its medal because of Calvin Harrison’s second doping violation.
Calvin Harrison of the U.S. takes the start of his 400-metre heat at the World Athletics Championships, north of Paris, in 2003. (AP/Rusty Kennedy)
The gold will now going to France, with Jamaica receiving the silver and Bahamas the bronze.
Harrison was found guilty of using the stimulant modafinil at the U.S. championships in June 2003. He argued the drug wasn’t specifically mentioned on the official list of banned substances at the time.
Harrison had a chance to appeal the ruling, but the International Association of Athletics Federations said he is too late.
“The deadline has passed and that means there is a new result in the relay final,” IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said Sunday.
Ten years earlier, Harrison tested positive for the stimulant pseudoephedrine during the 1993 U.S. junior indoor championships. He served a three-month ban.
