By Michael Johnson, former Olympic great
June 3, 2008

Last week my former team-mate, Antonio Pettigrew, testified in the Trevor Graham perjury trial that he had taken HGH (Human Growth Hormone) and EPO (Erythropoietin) from 1997 to 2001. I got word of this a few weeks back when the prosecution released the list of witnesses it expected to call and what they expected them to say.

The news that Antonio was expected to testify to having taken performance-enhancing drugs shocked me like no other drug-related story. Having received news over the past few years of many other athletes having cheated, I had reached a point of no longer being shocked. But this one was different. He was someone I considered a friend. We both arrived on the international and professional track scene around the same time and while we sometimes competed against one another in the same event, we developed a friendship early on and always had mutual respect for one another.

Because Antonio has admitted to taking banned substances from 1997 to 2001 there is a good chance that the United States' 4 x 400 relay records and medals won during that time period will come into question. I competed on the 2000 Olympic 4 x 400 relay with Antonio and we also set the 4 x 400 world record together in 1998.

The 2000 Olympic 4 x 400 gold medal has already been called into question once before after it was revealed that another team-mate, Jerome Young, had tested positive in 1999 but was exonerated prior to the US Olympic trials where he did make the US team.

He only ran in the preliminary round of the relay in Sydney but I never agreed that the medal should be taken away from us because all rules had been followed and he was exonerated before he made the Olympic team, so I said then that I would not give up my medal.

During this time, Antonio and I spoke over the phone a few times about the situation, how terrible it was, and how unfair it would be for them to take our medals back. We agreed we should and we would fight it. I look back on those conversations now and am amazed that he could talk to me about this knowing all along that he was guilty and that the medal was tainted anyway.

I have vigorously defended this sport over the last six or so years since the drug scandals started. I have pointed out how athletics tests its athletes more than any other sport and how it has a zero-tolerance policy and how it is unfair that, because of holding itself to a higher standard, it has become a victim of that.

I have pointed out how the same media that doesn't care at all about a new world record in the 100 metres won't miss an opportunity to report on a virtually unknown athlete in the triple jump testing positive. But now I feel that I have been naïve.

I have said that I don't buy the excuse of athletes saying that they felt they had to use drugs because they felt most of their competition was doing so. I still don't buy that, but I now realise that most of the athletes using drugs probably knew who else was using drugs. I can see how an athlete might feel that taking drugs is the only way to beat other athletes who he or she knows to be on drugs.

I also said in the past that I don't buy the excuse that coaches are pressuring athletes to use drugs and used myself as an example that in my four years as a junior and 11 years as a professional no one ever approached me about using drugs. Now I realise that when I chose Clyde Hart, the only coach I ever had, because of his reputation for honesty and integrity, I would be shielded from the dirty and dishonest side of the sport and that everyone wasn't as fortunate to have a coach with such a solid reputation, conscience, and righteous moral compass.

I am deeply disappointed in Antonio and in the sport of athletics. I now realise that there have been a significant number of athletes and coaches in this sport who have cheated and taken the short cut, and many of them knew who else was cheating. But I will not give up on this sport and the current group of young athletes like Jeremy Wariner, Allyson Felix, Tyson Gay, Christine Ohuruogu, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell. I will continue to support them but the difference is that now I can certainly understand why some fans may be hesitant to do so themselves. And I can't blame them for that. And that is a huge problem for the International Olympic Committee, the IAAF, and the whole track and field community. It is also a huge responsibility for the World Anti-Doping Agency, because many of the athletes who have now had to admit to using banned substances never tested positive.

As for the gold medal I won with Antonio, and Alvin and Calvin Harrison, who have all admitted to or have tested positive for drugs since 2000 when we won the medal, I'm sure that there will be calls for us to give it back. I'm not sure what will happen with that effort, but I know that the medal was not fairly won and that it is dirty, and so I have moved it from the location where I have always kept my medals because it doesn't belong there. And it doesn't belong to me. So, as difficult as it is, I will be returning it to the International Olympic Committee because I don't want it. I feel cheated, betrayed and let down.

Where will the medals go?

There is no guarantee that the Nigerian 4 x 400m relay team who finished second at the 2000 Sydney Games will ever be made champions. American Jerome Young had tested positive for nandrolone in 1999 and had wrongly been cleared to run, but as he did not compete in the final his team-mates won a court ruling allowing them to keep the medals. Despite Antonio Pettigrew's recent admission that he was taking banned drugs, the International Olympic Committee have no power to strip the entire team of their medals.

Simon Hart

Michael Johnson:

 Olympic relay gold medal from Sydney Olympic Games is tainted

By Tom Knight
June 6, 2008

Michael Johnson is to take the unprecedented step of returning the last of his five Olympic gold medals as he now accepts that it was won unfairly.

The double world-record holder, who retired in 2001, said he was "deeply disappointed and saddened" to be voluntarily sending back his 4 x 400 metres gold from the Sydney Games to the International Olympic Committee. Medals returned to the IOC are more usually stripped from athletes subsequently found to have violated anti-doping regulations.

Michael Johnson: Olympic relay gold medal from Sydney Olympic Games is tainted
Disappointed: Michael Johnson will return his 4 x 400 metres gold

Johnson reached the decision after his former team-mate and friend, Antonio Pettigrew, admitted during the recent trial of the coach, Trevor Graham, that he had used drugs during those Olympics. Pettigrew's confession followed the drug bans already imposed on Alvin and Calvin Harrison and Jerome Young, also members of the victorious United States relay squad in Sydney.

Writing exclusively for The Daily Telegraph, Johnson describes the medal as "tainted" and adds: "I know that the medal was not fairly won and that it is dirty and so I have moved it from the location where I have always kept my medals because it doesn't belong there.

"And it doesn't belong to me, so I will be returning it to the IOC because I don't want it. It was not won fairly. I am deeply disappointed and saddened."

Johnson, 40, admitted that in defending the sport in recent years, he had been "naive". His stance was applauded by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Spokesman Nick Davies said: "By taking this courageous step, Michael has sent an important message about the place of doping in sport. Michael has done the right thing."