LaShawn Merritt barred from Games


Associated Press

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Lashawn Merritt is ineligible to defend his Olympic 400-meter title at the 2012 London Games, even though his doping ban ends a year earlier.

The American runner received a 21-month suspension from U.S. arbitrators on Monday for using a banned substance found in an over-the-counter male enhancement product.

The ban expires in July 2011, leaving Merritt eligible to compete in the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, in August next year.

The International Olympic Committee reiterated Tuesday that its rules will keep Merritt out of the London Olympics. Under a rule adopted in Osaka, Japan, in 2008, any athlete suspended for more than six months is automatically banned from the next Olympics.