Jerome Young

Jerome Young (born August 14, 1976) in Clarendon, Jamaica, is a former sprint athlete. He was caught doping in 1999, and was ultimately banned from the sport, which cast suspicious shadows over his entire track & field career.

Background

He attended A.I. Prince Technical High School in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1995, as a senior in high school, Jerome set a Connecticut state record of 45.01 in the 400 m. He was Track and Field News "High School Athlete of the Year" in 1995.^[1]

Jerome was part of the world record breaking 4 x 400 metres relay team in 1998 along with Michael Johnson, Antonio Pettigrew, and Tyree Washington.

On June 29, 2004 the IAAF announced the following:

The Court of Arbitration of Sport has decided that the Doping Appeal Board of USATF reached an erroneous decision when exonerating Jerome Young of a doping offence and that, accordingly, Jerome Young did indeed commit a Doping Offence on 26 June 1999.^[2]

The effect of the decision was to negate all his results from 26 June 1999 to 25 June 2001, and to ban him permanently from the date of the decision. Accordingly, he and his teammates were stripped of their 2000 Olympic medal in the 4x400 m relay.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport reinstated the 2000 Olympic gold for Jerome's relay teammates in 2005.^[3] Jerome had not run in the final; he had only run in one of the qualifying heats.

Young and the U.S. team had previously been stripped of the 2003 world championship relay gold due to a doping admission by teammate Calvin Harrison.

On August 2, 2008, the International Olympic Committee stripped the gold medal from the U.S. men's 4x400-meter relay team, due to a doping admission by teammate Antonio Pettigrew.^[4]

Jerome Young resides in Raleigh, NC as a sprinting coach at Millbrook High School.^[5] Jerome also teaches special education at the high school.

Statistics

• Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
• Weight: 175 lb (79 kg)
• PR: 400 m. – 44.09 s* (1998)

Achievements

These were later stripped due to Young's drug use during his career.

• 1997
  • World Championships – Athens, Greece.
    • 4 x 400 m. relay gold medal
• 1998
  • IAAF World Cup – Johannesburg, South Africa.
    • 400 m. silver medal
• 2001
  • World Championships – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
    • 4 x 400 m. gold medal
  • World Indoor Championships – Lisbon, Portugal.
    • 4 x 400 m. silver medal

See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

References

External links

• Background: Jerome Young case from USA Today