Shawn Crawford Ban: Retired Olympic Champ Suspended For Two Years

A Shawn Crawford ban has brought an incredulous response from the former Olympic champion’s coach, who points out the runner has been retired for several months.

Crawford, who won 200m gold in Athens in 2004, has been suspended for two years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The Shawn Crawford ban was confirmed Friday after the athlete failed to inform the testing agency of his whereabouts for the third time in 18 months.

However, coach Bobby Kersee says the runner called time on his career after the US Olympic trials, which ended on July 1, 2012. He says:

“I don’t understand this. He hasn’t put on spikes all year. I just don’t understand how this is allowed to happen? It’s wrong. Eventually, the truth has to come out.

“A person who hasn’t put on spikes all year, a married man trying to take care of his family and what does he get for the end of his career – a two-year ban? I don’t understand.”

A USADA statement confirmed:

“Shawn Crawford failed to comply with the whereabouts requirements and, as a result, accrued three ‘whereabouts failures’ within an 18-month period.

“Under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Anti-Doping Rules, both of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code (“Code”), the combination of three Whereabouts Failures within an 18-month period constitutes a rule violation.”

Crawford enjoyed considerable success on the Olympic stage. As well as his Athens gold medal, he clinched a silver in the 200m at the 2008 Beijing Games. He finished fourth in that race, but was promoted to second after Wallace Spearmon and Churandy Martina were disqualified for running out of their lanes.

In an admirable act of sportsmanship, Crawford later gave his medal to the disqualified Martina, who would have been the first Olympic medalist from Netherlands Antilles.

You can watch Crawford win 200m gold in Athens below. What do you make of the Shawn Crawford ban?