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LOS
ANGELES. Sprinter Justin Galtin had his doping ban reduced,
but not by enough to make him eligible to defend his Olympic
100-meter title this year.
An
arbitration panel, in a 53-page ruling released Tuesday, reduced
the 25-year-old American's potential eight-year ban to four.
With the ban set to expire May 24, 2010, it means Gatlin would
be ineligible for the Beijing Olympics in August.
Still,
the panel left open the possibility of a further reduction.
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The
three-member panel unanimously ruled Gatlin committed
a doping offense when he tested positive for excessive
testosterone in April 2006, but the sprinter's first
doping offense in 2001 troubled the group.
If
that doping violation were erased, that would make Gatlin's
2006 case his first offense, clearing the way for a
further reduced ban. First doping offenses often result
in a two-year ban, which would make him eligible to
run in May, a month before the U.S. Olympic trials.
Gatlin
has six months to appeal.
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