COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Sprinter Michelle Collins (search) was suspended for eight years for a doping violation linked to the BALCO (search) scandal and will forfeit results that include 2003 indoor world and U.S. titles in the 200 meters.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Friday that a three-member appeals panel of the American Arbitration Association found Collins committed a doping violation based on her participation in the alleged Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative drug conspiracy.
The arbitrators concluded that Collins, who never tested positive for banned substances, used various BALCO-provided drugs for a period of several years. The arbitration panel concluded that Collins' participation in the BALCO case "amounted to a cover-up."
USADA based its case on blood and urine tests she had in recent years, along with documents seized from BALCO by federal prosecutors and statements made by BALCO officials, arbitrators said.
USADA said the arbitrators ruled the agency proved that Collins, 33, used EPO, a testosterone/epitestosterone cream and the steroid THG to enhance her performance.
Four men connected to BALCO have pleaded innocent to distributing performance-enhancing drugs to elite athletes.
Collins' attorney, Brian Getz, was in court and did not immediately return a message left at his office.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox