American sprinter has also returned silver medal he won with the USA 4x100 metre relay team at the 2012 London Olympics
American sprinter Tyson Gay has been banned for one year and forfeited the Olympic silver medal he won as part of the United States 4x100 metres team in London after testing positive for an anabolic steroid last summer.
Gay, the joint second fastest sprinter in history after Usain Bolt, had been facing the maximum two-year suspension but had his punishment halved after providing “substantial assistance” to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) during their investigation.
In a statement released on Friday, Usada said Gay had returned adverse findings for an anabolic steroid on three occasions – once from an in-competition urine sample and twice from out-of-competition samples – though the three failed tests were treated as a single offence because they were carried out in quick succession.
His one-year ban has been backdated to June 23, 2013 – the day his first sample was collected at the US Championships in Des Moines, Iowa – which means he will be eligible to compete again as early as next month.
Usada did not provide details about how Gay came to test positive for a heavy-duty steroid, though it has been reported that he blamed a cream supplied to him by an Atlanta-based anti-ageing practitioner.
The athlete apparently told investigators that he had been using the product since July 15, 2012, which means all his results since then, including the Olympic 4x100m relay final, have been annulled.
Under the rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations, the other members of the American relay quartet – Tell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin and Ryan Bailey – now stand to be stripped of their medals.
That means Trinidad and Tobago will be promoted from third to second place, with France moving up into the bronze medal position.
Gay made a tearful admission of his guilt on July 14 last year – the same day that Jamaican former world record-holder Asafa Powell was also revealed to have failed a drug test.
Gay, who immediately withdrew himself from the rest of the season, said at the time: “I basically put my trust in someone and I was let down.”
The fact that Gay was banned for just one year for an anabolic steroid while Powell was given an 18-month ban for a minor stimulant contained in a supplement will raise some eyebrows, though the World Anti-Doping Code allows for a 50 per cent cut in the length of a suspension if an athlete cooperates fully with an investigation.
In the Usada statement, chief executive Travis T. Tygart said: “We appreciate Tyson doing the right thing by immediately withdrawing from competition once he was notified, accepting responsibility for his decisions and fully and truthfully cooperating with us in our ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding his case.”