A 69-year-old track and field athlete has accepted a three-year ban from the sport after being caught taking multiple steroids, it has emerged.
Michael Hooker won the over-65 men’s shot put event at the USA Track & Field Masters Outdoor Championships on July 17.
Records from the event show that he took down 10 other competitors at the event at Milton Frank Stadium in Huntsville, Alabama.
However, a urine sample collected from the Nashville, Tennessee native at the event showed that he tested positive for two different steroids, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said in a statement.
Hooker tested positive for Mesterolone and a synthetic form of Testosterone – both of which are steroids.
Like Testosterone, Mesterolone can be taken to increase muscle.
Michael Hooker, 69, has been banned for three years due to multiple doping violations
Hooker competed at the USA Track & Field Masters Outdoor Championships at Milton Frank Stadium in Huntsville, Alabama
And Hooker certainly performed well in the Masters event back in July as he threw the shot put 12.55 meters in the finals round.
In a statement announcing Hooker’s suspension, the USADA revealed that it used a test called an Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) – which differentiates between synthetic Testosterone and Testosterone produced naturally in one’s body – to determine that Hooker was doping.
Typically, a violation such as Hooker’s results in a four-year ban from USADA.
However, USADA rules state that athletes who admit their violation and accept the ruling within 20 days of it being handed down can reduce their suspension by a year.
Thus, Hooker will be banned until the summer of 2028 – when he is 72 years old.
His competitive results from July 17 have also been vacated.
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