3 February 2010 / ,
Suspended US Olympic relay gold medalist Crystal Cox has denied using performance-enhancing drugs.
“I can sit and preach I am innocent and have never used steroids but proving my innocence was difficult without the money or the resources, going against a goliath like the United States Anti-Doping Agency [USADA],” said the 2004 4x400 meters relay alternate whose four-year ban has put the team’s gold in jeopardy. USADA announced Cox’s suspension on Friday, saying her results since 2001 had been disqualified because of the use of prohibited anabolic agents and hormones between 2001 and 2004. “I fought as long as I could and tearfully signed the sanction ... but knowing in my heart and every fiber of my being I was innocent,” said Cox in an email to family and friends that was first reported on the Fayetteville Observer’s Web site. “If I did not sign the sanction, being banned [for life] from track and field would damage me more than the public scrutiny I am receiving now.” USADA chief executive Travis Tygart defended his agency’s handling of the case and said Cox could have gone to an independent decision-making body rather than accept the four-year suspension. Raleigh, North Carolina Reuters
