Justin Gatlin Under Investigation After Members of His Team Offer to Obtain Steroids and GH for Fictitious Actor

Justin Gatlin, an American 100-meter Olympic gold medalist and World Champion who has already served two suspensions for anti-doping violations, is under investigation again after members of his training camp offered to obtain anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (hGH) for an undercover journalist. Gatlin has fired his coach and attempted to distance himself from a sports agent who spoke a little too freely about the rampant steroid use in track and field.

An undercover journalist working for The Telegraph (UK) newspaper visited Gatlin’s training camp in Florida last summer and posed as a Hollywood agent who need to get her actor client in shape for an upcoming film. The investigative journalist was following up on a tip that certain agents and trainers were providing athletes with performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). 

An Austrian sports agent at Gatlin’s training camp named Robert Wagner appeared eager to help – for a substantial fee. Wagner told the undercover journalist that he could obtain and supply testosterone and hGH to help the fictitious actor get in shape. Wagner said that he would use a trusted physician that he worked with in Austria to provide the necessary prescriptions and pharmaceutical products. In addition to the PEDs, Wagner promised to arrange regular consultations with top trainers and nutritionists. He even offered accommodation with Gatlin’s team in Florida. Wagner’s fee for the project was $250,000 USD.

Wagner told the undercover journalist that steroid use was rampant in track and field. He claimed that everyone used banned PEDs including Justin Gatlin. Wagner’s conversations were covertly recorded by the fake Hollywood agent.

“Justin is going to do it, just like every other sprinter in America is going to do it… You think Justin is not doing this? Do you think Dennis [Mitchell] wasn’t doing this? Everybody does it.”

Wagner arranged a meeting with Gatlin’s coach Dennis Mitchell. Mitchell never explicitly admitted involvement in acquiring PEDs or doping his athletes. In fact, Mitchell adamantly asserted that all of his athletes were clean. However, Mitchell listened as Wagner described the sports’ doping problems. Mitchell even offer his own hypothesis about how current athletes are getting away with steroid use.

“Well the thing that’s popular in our sports now, and I’m talking to you hypothetical, like we don’t know for sure, this is what I hear. What’s going on in the sport now is that people are taking things what are called tailored type drugs.

“Yeah, because in order for somebody to get caught, there is like, like a DNA strain that particular steroid has, right? And they test for that strain.

“Right, well you know a DNA strain has all kinds of chemicals connected to it. They pull one out, put something else in. Now it is totally different. So that’s a tailored kind of drug, the only problem with that is you don’t know what it gives you on the other end as the side effects.”

When Wagner was told that he had been set up by the undercover journalist with The Telegraph, the Austrian sports agent protested that he was stretching the truth. Wagner denied that he was really involved in doping and denied that he had any inside knowledge of Gatlin’s PED use. Any suggestions to the contrary were merely concocted as part of a sales pitch to sign up the fictitious actor as a new client according to Wagner. 

“I wasn’t involved in doping,” Wagner said. “Obviously I played along because I knew what was going on. I had to get them hooked… I told her [the undercover reporter] that to get the job… I am not Justin Gatlin’s agent, how would I know [if he was using steroids or PEDs]?”

The International Association of Athletics Athletic Integrity Unit (IAAF-AIU) and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) are currently investigating the potential doping scandal involving Gatlin and his entourage.

Gatlin has vehemently denied using prohibited PEDs since his return from his last suspension. He has also dismissed his connections with Wagner as limited to 2-3 deals. Gatlin emphasized that Wagner was not his main agent; Renaldo Nehemiah has been Gatlin’s primary sports agent for the past 14 years.

Source: 

Newell, C., Dixon, H., Foggo, D., Adams, C. & Heighton, L. (December 18, 2017). Exclusive investigation: World 100m champion Justin Gatlin embroiled in new doping scandal. Retrieved from telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/18/exclusive-investigation-world-100m-champion-justin-gatlin-embroiled/