U.S. collegiate athlete of the year nominee gets three-year ban
2020 Olympic gold medallist Randolph Ross receives a three-year ban after trying to cover up his missed drug tests with fake emails
Photo by:
Kevin Morris
Randolph Ross, a U.S. Olympic 400m sprinter who won gold in the men’s 4x400m at Tokyo 2020, was suspended for three years by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for three drug testing whereabouts failures and creating a fake email to tamper with the investigation process.
The AIU has banned Randolph Ross (USA) for 3 years, from 1 July 2022, for Whereabouts Failures and Tampering with any part of Doping Control by an Athlete. DQ results since 18 June 2022.
Details here: https://t.co/ugAjjTfGln pic.twitter.com/XjiXVLBz0K
— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) December 13, 2022
Ross is suspended until June 30, 2025, and will miss the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The 21-year-old admitted that he created a fake system-generated email confirming an update to information surrounding his third whereabouts failure, said the AIU.
Three whereabouts failures in 12 months (not being present for out-of-competition drug tests) can trigger a two-year suspension. Former U.S. 100m world champion Christian Coleman received a two-year suspension in 2019 following three whereabouts failures, which left him out of the 2020 Olympics.
Ross is the back-to-back NCAA champion in the 400m and was removed from Team USA for the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Ore., after his third unsuccessful testing attempt on June 18, resulting in a provisional suspension from the AIU.
The 400m sprinter admitted in an interview with Track and Field News that he changed the date in an email to align with an address change that led to his last missed test on June 18.
The reigning NCAA 400m champion for North Carolina A&T University is one of three finalists for the Bowerman Award, the NCAA track and field athlete of the year, which will be named Thursday, Dec. 15. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has not commented on the suspension and Ross is still listed as a nominee for the award.
His dad and coach, Duane Ross, was suspended by USADA back in 2001 for the attempted use, possession and trafficking of PEDs. Duane is currently the head coach and director of the track and field program at the University of Tennessee.
This is the second suspension for one of Ross’s athletes in 2022. Earlier this year, Commonwealth Games medallist Grace Nwokocha was provisionally suspended by the AIU after testing positive for the banned substances ostarine and ligandrol, which are anabolic steroids to help rapidly build muscle.
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