The Rio de Janeiro Olympic champion in the 4×400 meter relay and 2012 indoor world champion in the same distance, the American Gil Roberts, can say goodbye to his career.
He was caught violating anti-doping rules for the third time and received an eight-year disqualification. For a 35-year-old athlete, this is a death sentence.
However, Roberts could have left the global elite with a bang much sooner. Before the actual punishment, the athlete was caught doping twice. The first time he escaped suspension was a story worthy of a women’s novel.
It is worth noting that this is another case of disqualification of an American champion rider. As the years passed, Gatlin, Gay, Coleman, Richardson and many, many others were punished. Are there clean brokers in the United States?
Sha’Carri Richardson missed the Olympics due to suspension:
“Do not judge me.” Top American sprinter disqualified just before 2020 Olympics
forbidden kisses
For the first time, Gil Roberts, already an Olympic champion, went unnoticed by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in 2017. On March 24 of that year, at four in the morning, some anti-doping agents appeared before the athlete and gave him tested positive for the banned drug probenecid.
It would seem that the 28-year-old athlete should have been punished. But Roberts unexpectedly managed to justify himself. According to him, his girlfriend was to blame for everything. Apparently, a few weeks before having this same test, he traveled to India, where he contracted sinusitis. A healer from a local village treated her for her illness. The girl continued taking the medication after returning home, which she did not tell Gil. The lovers “kissed frequently and passionately,” resulting in traces of the drug being found on Roberts’ body.
USADA’s official report on the incident reads more like scenes from a pulp novel than a formal explanation:
“They were kissing and having fun.” Around 1:00 or 1:30 she went to the kitchen to take some medicine. She did not tell Roberts what she was doing and he did not see her take the drug. She opened the capsule, poured the contents into her mouth, and then rinsed her mouth with water. Shortly after, she found Roberts and began kissing him. “Roberts couldn’t count the number of times they kissed between that moment and the doping officer’s arrival.”
Gil Roberts
Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images
The USADA accepted this version and acquitted the athlete, concluding that the concentration of the drug in Gil’s body was so low that, in reality, the probenecid could have reached him through a kiss with a girl.
Excuses didn’t help
Having escaped safely, Roberts continued competing. However, on May 19, 2022, he tested positive again. Traces of andarine and ostarine have now been found in his body. The athlete tried to justify himself again. This time he blamed the incident on sports nutrition manufacturers, whose packaging did not contain prohibited impurities. An analysis of the packaging and the real composition of the substance confirmed the athlete’s version, but they still decided to punish Roberts, although reducing his sentence from 48 to 16 months.
But before his disqualification expired, Gil was caught for a new anti-doping rule violation. On September 20, 2023, two weeks before serving his previous sentence, Roberts again tested positive for several banned substances, including ostarine and ligandol. Would he be surprised to know that he found an excuse for this again?
Christian Coleman is another controversial American sports star:
Everything gets its way. US team leader Coleman was saved again for a serious infraction.
He initially reported a laboratory error, but the “B” sample confirmed the results. Then he chose a new path and started complaining about “persecution” by USADA. Of course, this didn’t help. Roberts received an extended period of ineligibility because this was not the first anti-doping rule violation in the past 10 years.
Roberts’ eight-year period of ineligibility began on October 18, 2023. In addition, all results shown by him after September 20, 2023 were canceled, Gil was deprived of medals, points and awards.
