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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 8:38 a.m., Monday, June 23, 2008

Olympics: IOC says banned sprinter Gatlin not welcome in Beijing

By MARK LONG
AP Sports Writer

PENSACOLA, Fla. — Banned sprinter Justin Gatlin must go to Switzerland if he wants to compete in Beijing.

The International Olympic Committee says Gatlin, whose four-year doping ban recently was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, is not eligible to compete in the Beijing Olympics regardless of any ruling by a federal court judge in Pensacola.

"Should he wish to appeal this CAS decision, he must do so before the Swiss Federal Court," wrote IOC director of legal affairs Howard Stupp in the letter dated June 23.