Justin Gatlin, a two-time convicted drugs cheat, has hit out at suggestions that his past steroid use could still be boosting his performance 10 years after he tested positive.
Research conducted by the University of Oslo has claimed experiments on mice show a brief exposure to testosterone allows the rodent to rapidly regain muscle later in their lives.
Gatlin was banned for four years after testing positive for an anabolic steroid in 2006 – the second doping offence of his career after earlier testing positive for amphetamines.
He returned to win 100m bronze at the London Olympics and, at the age of 33, continues to get faster, most recently opening his season with a personal best 9.74sec to extend his unbeaten streak to 19 races.
When asked whether his past misdemeanours could be aiding his performance, he replied: “I think it’s ridiculous.
“My situation was 2006 – that was a decade ago. They need to go and see what is happening in the medical world, don’t come to me with that.
“A lot of people have been in the same situation I have been in. I’m not sure why you would match a laboratory mouse to a human being, that’s unfathomable to me.”
Gatlin has always denied knowingly taking the banned substance, insisting at the time that massage therapist Christopher Whetstine rubbed testosterone cream onto his back without his knowledge – a claim that Whetstine denies.
