Trevor Graham is a Jamaican-born American former sprinter and athletics coach. Following the BALCO scandal, the US Olympic Committee barred him indefinitely from all its training sites.
Formed in 1993 by Graham and incorporated in 1997, Sprint Capitol USA was based at the Paul Derr Track on the North Carolina State University Main Campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. Trevor Graham was one of the top sprint coaches in the world. Graham is the only coach to have successfully coached both men and woman champion in the Olympic 100 meters and 200 meters as well as both men and women world champions in the 60 meters, 100 meters and 200 meters. Graham’s athletes have won a combined total of 60 Olympic and World Championships medals. Graham has coached eight men that have run 10.00 seconds or faster in the 100 meters, eight women that have run 11.10 or faster in the 100 meters. Indoors Graham has coached four men under 6.50 seconds for 60 meters and four women at 7.10 seconds and under in the 60 meters. In the long sprint his resume includes 6 women under 51 seconds in the 400m, three under 50.00 seconds and more than a dozen men under 45.00. Graham is an Olympic silver medalist. In 2002 Graham was the USA track and fieldcoach of the year, Nike professional coach of the year and Track and field magazine coach of the year.
Doping scandal
BALCO
Graham first played a critical whistleblower role in the BALCO scandal of June 2003, anonymously sending a syringe containing the designer steroid Tetrahydrogestrinone to the United States Anti-Doping Agency The syringe started the investigation. Many others accused him of trying to wipe out a rival. Eventually the investigation came back to Graham, and he was charged with making false statements about his ties to a steroids distributor. He was convicted on one of three felony charges in May 2008. Graham was convicted of one count of lying to federal investigators. A mistrial was declared on two other counts as jurors could not reach a unanimous agreement. Graham was sentenced to one year of house arrest.
Doping ban
In July 2006, Angel Guillermo Heredia testified before a US Federal Grand Jury that he had worked for Graham from 1996 to 2000, providing illegal performance-enhancing drugs. While a number of athletes coached by Graham have received suspensions for drug use, he has always denied direct knowledge or involvement, and denies having ever met Heredia. After Justin Gatlin failed a test for testosterone, announced in July 2006, Graham stated in an interview that Gatlin had been set up. Two of the athletes Graham had coached admitted to having been knowingly taking drugs. An unsent letter written by BALCO's Victor Conte to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency described the use of an oral testosterone by Graham that "will clear the body and be undetectable in urine in less than a week after discontinuing use." At the end of the letter, Gatlin was one of four athletes identified as using the drug. The International Association of Athletics Federations said on 31 July 2006 that Graham could face a two-year ban if evidence links him to any doping violations and the United States Anti-Doping Agency decides not to take action. On 3 August 2006 the United States Olympic Committee banned Graham from its training facilities. This was the first time a coach has received such a ban based on the excessive number of athletes in their charge who have tested positive. Later that month, Nike ended its contract with Graham. The US Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart, on 15 July 2008, confirmed a life ban on Graham for breaking anti-drugs rules: "It sends a powerful reminder that coaches are not above the rules. There's a misconception that they are because we don't drug-test them, but this shows that we'll use all of our authority. There's no opportunity to seek reinstatement. Any chance that he may have had for that has passed. He's waived that." His ban included participation in any event sanctioned by the U.S. Olympic Committee, the IAAF, USA Track & Field or any other group that participates in the World Anti-Doping Agency program. Interviewed in 2009 after five years of silence, Graham said he is innocent and that he was considering appealing the lifetime ban. In 2011, Graham filed an unsuccessful $30 million slander lawsuit against USADA. He is reportedly still trying to get back into coaching as of 2016.
