Adidas isn’t waiting for the “B” sample results. The apparel company suspended its contract with U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay less than 24 hours after he revealed he registered a positive drug test.
“We are shocked by these recent allegations, and even if we presume his innocence until proven otherwise, our contract with Tyson is currently suspended,” a company spokesman told Reuters.
Under its agreements with athletes, Adidas has the right to terminate the contract “if the athlete is found guilty of the possession or use of drugs or any other prohibited substance by the relevant governing sports body having jurisdiction over the athlete.”
Gay, 30, the American record holder in the 100 meters, told The Associated Press that he tested positive for a substance he wouldn’t disclose in an out-of-competition test May 16.
Gay told the AP, “I basically put my trust in someone, and I was let down.”
Asked who that someone was, he said, “I can’t really say it. Sometimes a human being naturally, generally trusts somebody. That’s what people do.”
Gay’s “B” sample has yet to be tested, but it usually does not differ from the “A” results.
He could face the standard two-year ban given to athletes who test positive for a first time, though the ban has been known to be reduced depending on the case.
Gay, the U.S. champion in the 100 and the 200, will miss the world championships in August. He’s a two-time Olympian, a 4×100 relay silver medalist in 2012 and swept the 100, 200 and 4×100 at the 2007 world championships before Usain Bolt took over the sport.
“I don’t have a sabotage story,” Gay told the AP. “I don’t have any lies. I don’t have anything to say to make this seem like it was a mistake or it was on USADA’s hands, someone playing games. I don’t have any of those stories.”
