Chambers Gets Life Ban From Olympics for THG

British sprinter Dwain Chambers was banned for life from the Olympics and suspended from competition for two years Tuesday after testing positive for the designer steroid THG. Chambers is the first athlete banned for THG use.

The ban, which is likely now to serve as a precedent in other THG-related matters, was announced in London by UK Athletics, the British track and field federation, after a hearing last week. Chambers, 25, has a right to appeal.

Four U.S. athletes have also tested positive for THG, or tetrahydrogestrinone.

U.S. authorities believe the source of THG is the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, in Burlingame, Calif. On Feb. 12, U.S. prosecutors announced a 42-count indictment naming BALCO founder Victor Conte and three others in an alleged conspiracy to distribute performance-enhancing drugs to dozens of athletes -- Olympic-caliber competitors as well as professional football and baseball players.

Also named in the indictment are BALCO Vice President James J. Valente, prominent track coach Remi Korchemny and Greg F. Anderson, trainer to San Francisco Giant slugger Barry Bonds. Each has pleaded not guilty. Bonds testified in December before a federal grand jury in San Francisco investigating BALCO. Bonds, reporting to spring training Monday in Scottsdale, Ariz., told reporters he had never taken steroids.

A two-year ban from competition is the standard ban in a steroid case. Chambers tested positive in an out-of-competition screening Aug. 1 in Germany. He maintained he never knowingly took a banned substance. Olympic-style drug testing, however, makes no allowance for an athlete’s intent; if a substance is in the body, it’s the athlete’s responsibility.

Chambers was the 2002 European 100-meter champion.

Tuesday’s decision upheld the scientific finding that THG is a performance-enhancing steroid. Some athletes’ advocates have suggested that the use of THG should not be banned because it was not specifically listed in a lengthy catalog of impermissible drugs before its existence was detected last summer by the Olympic-accredited lab at UCLA.

Authorities have said that, logically, any new or previously undetectable drug wouldn’t be on a banned list. The list is written so such drugs can be banned if they are “related” to drugs known to boost performance. Scientists say THG is related to the banned steroid gestrinone.

Many Olympic officials are gathered in Athens for a weeklong series of meetings related to the Summer Games in August. Giselle Davies, a spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee, said the action by UK Athletics was “what we expected,” adding, “It serves as a warning to athletes that the world of sport takes the fight against doping very seriously.”

Terry Madden, the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said its officials “look forward” to the THG hearings in the U.S.

The four Americans with positive THG tests are shotputter Kevin Toth, runner Regina Jacobs and hammer throwers Melissa Price and John McEwen.