Triple Olympic champion Gabby Thomas has demanded lifetime bans for any coaches implicated in doping, criticising the hypocrisy of former dopers coaching the US team. Writing on social media, the 28-year-old sprinter said coaches should be banned for life, regardless of whether they were caught as athletes or distributors.
Thomas, who won gold in the 200m and two relays at the Paris Olympics, expressed frustration with the current system. 'Doping coaches should be banned for life from coaching in the sport. I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care,' she wrote on Instagram. 'If you train under a coach who is known for doping, you are complicit.'
Her comments come amid a spate of doping cases, including nearly 400 Kenyan athletes suspended in the past decade, and a four-year ban for Ukrainian triple jumper Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk. Thomas also appeared to target Dennis Mitchell, coach of her rivals Sha'Carri Richardson and Twanisha Terry. Mitchell served a two-year ban for a positive testosterone test in 1998 and was later implicated in the BALCO scandal.
Thomas said she wants to leave the sport better than she found it. 'After six years, I just want better for athletes. We deserve it,' she added.
