American sprinter Justin Gatlin could win World Championships and go undefeated for a second consecutive season but he would still not be ineligible for the sport’s athlete of the year award, the IAAF said.
A change in selection criteria makes any athlete who has been sanctioned for a serious doping offence ineligible to be shortlisted for the honour, effective this year, International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) spokesman Nick Davies told Reuters .
Gatlin, the fastest man over 100 and 200 metres in 2015, was banned for four years after a 2006 positive test for testosterone.
He has returned to the sport and is favourite to dethrone Jamaican world record holder Usain Bolt in both sprints at the World Championships in Beijing in August.
Davies said the IAAF Council approved the change at a meeting last November on the recommendation of the IAAF Athletes Commission. It came after uproar over Gatlin’s inclusion on the top 10 male athletes of the year list for 2014 under existing rules.
