Former coach sues Tyson Gay over doping case

Tyson Gay‘s former coach is suing the sprinter and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency “for falsely accusing him of administering and providing performance-enhancing drugs” to Gay, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Jon Drummond, who coached Gay as recently as 2012, filed a lawsuit against Gay and USADA CEO Travis Tygart in a Texas county civil court Wednesday, according to the report, and said USADA notified him a month ago that it intended to seek a lifetime ban against him.

Gay tested positive three times in 2013 for “an exogenous androgenic anabolic steroid and/or its metabolites,” according to USADA, which suspended the sprinter for one year. Gay was given a reduced suspension for “providing substantial assistance” to USADA. The World Anti-Doping Agency Code notes that “substantial assistance” includes fully disclosing all information an athlete possesses in relation to the doping violation and implicating other individuals.

Those drug tests came several months after Drummond stopped working with Gay. Drummond told Sports Illustrated last year that he had not worked with Gay since September 2012.

Drummond said in the lawsuit that Gay never tested positive while Drummond was his coach, according to the Star-Telegram.

“He was absolutely stunned when rumors began to arise that either Mr. Gay himself or others intended to blame this positive test on Mr. Drummond,” the lawsuit stated.

The USADA report stated that Gay first used a product that contained a prohibited substance on July 15, 2012.

Sports Illustrated reported last year that Drummond knew an anti-aging doctor, Clayton Gibson, who started working with Gay before the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, which ran from June 21-July 1, 2012.

Gibson said that Gay had been referred to him by former U.S. sprinter Jon Drummond, who once coached Gay and was the Team USA relay coach at the 2012 Olympics. Gay was a member of the 4x100-meter relay team in London. Drummond denied in a text message to SI that he referred Gay to Gibson, but said he met the doctor with Gay last year. “I had heard good reports about [Gibson] from various athletes, so I hoped to engage in some due diligence with respect to his practice, just as I have done with many medical providers over the years ... I did not recommend that Tyson enter a relationship with him, long-term or otherwise. I have not worked with Tyson since September 2012 and have no knowledge as to what relationships he may have entered during that period.”

Gay and the U.S. 4x100m relay team won silver at the London Olympics, but Gay lost all of his results since July 15, 2012, with the suspension and returned his Olympic medal.

ProPublica reported more about Drummond, Gibson and Gay after the suspension came down, saying that Drummond “discussed [Gibson] with Gay.”

People with knowledge of USADA’s ongoing investigation have told ProPublica that the sprinter tested positive for a steroid or steroid precursor believed to have come from a cream given to him by Atlanta chiropractor and anti-aging specialist Clayton Gibson III. ...

Drummond vehemently denied being aware of any creams that Gay was using that might contain banned substances.

People with knowledge of USADA’s investigation said the agency has been told that Drummond had carried the cream for Gay during a training camp in Monaco prior to the 2012 Olympics.

Drummond, 45, won Olympic silver and gold medals in 1996 and 2000 as part of the U.S. Olympic 4x100m relay teams.

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