The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Tuesday removed the 4x400m men's world relay record after one of the sprinters, Antonio Pettigrew, admitted to doping in May. Americans Jerome Young, Pettigrew, Tyree Washington and Michael Johnson ran the 4x400 world record of 2min 54.20sec to win at the now-defunct Goodwill Games in Uniondale, New York on July 22, 1998. The IAAF said the new official 4x400m relay record would go to another US relay team, achieved on Aug. 22, 1993, during the world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, with a time of 2min 54.29sec. The four runners were Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Butch Reynolds and Johnson. Pettigrew told a US Court he had taken banned substances after the 1996 US trials. The IOC earlier this month also stripped the United States of their Sydney 2000 Olympics relay gold medal following Pettigrew's confession. Pettigrew acknowledged using the prohibited blood booster EPO and HGH beginning on or about January 1997 through 2003. – Reuters __
