Gatlin Gets 4-Year Ban

Olympic 100-meter champion Justin Gatlin won't be competing this year in Beijing—or in any other track and field meet—after receiving a four-year ban for a failed drug test in 2006. The sprinter had been arguing his case, saying, for one thing, that a prior doping charge shouldn't count as his first offense, reports the Washington Post.

Gatlin's other defense was the theory that testosterone got in his system via a thigh rub from a vindictive massage therapist. Two of the three arbitrators sided against him, though, handing him the ban that counts retroactively from April, 2006. For the 25-year-old Gatlin, that sentence could still spell the end of his career.