US Olympic gold medalist Antonio Pettigrew admitted publicly for the first time on Thursday that he used performance-enhancing substances during a career in which he passed all drug tests. The admission came during the last day of testimony for the government in the trial of his former coach, Trevor Graham, who is accused of lying to federal authorities investigating doping in sports. It was also revealed on Thursday that Olympic sprint champion Justin Gatlin worked undercover for authorities investigating doping in American sports, according to the testimony of Inland Revenue Service agent Erwin Rogers. Rogers testified that Gatlin, who once shared the world record in the 100 meters, secretly recorded several telephone calls with Graham. Gatlin tested positive for excessive testosterone in 2006, his second doping violation. He has maintained he never knowingly took a performance-enhancing drug. Gatlin has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to cut his suspension nearly in half so he can compete at the Beijing Olympics. Gatlin, like Pettigrew, was once a member of Graham's Sprint Capitol USA team in Raleigh, North Carolina, which also included sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery - both of whom are now imprisoned. Pettigrew testified that Graham encouraged him in 1997 to inject human growth hormone and the oxygen-boosting drug EPO, both banned in athletics. Soon after, Pettigrew said, he began buying the drugs from Angel “Memo” Heredia, an admitted steroids dealer from Laredo, Texas.
