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 Dennis Mitchell, who served a doping ban in 1999, told Reuters on
Monday he had learnt he fell outside new guidelines for coaching
America's relay teams and had decided to step down.
The change prohibits coaches with likely relay candidates from being
the relay coach. World sprint medalist Gatlin is expected to anchor
the U.S. 4x100 meters relay in Rio.
USATF's High Performance Division Executive Committee made the
modification with input from the Athletes Advisory Committee, USATF
spokeswoman Jill Geer said.
"They have added a provision, intended to minimize potential or
perceived conflicts, that prohibits an individual from being the
relay coach if he or she coaches an athlete who has a high
likelihood of being part of the relay pool," Geer said in an email
to Reuters.
"As a result of that new provision, Dennis Mitchell has resigned his
position."
Geer added Mitchell had been approved by the U.S. Olympic Committee
for the position.
The 50-year-old had been the relay coach since 2014, though his
selection had been controversial because of his 1998 positive test
for the banned hormone testosterone.
"I do not want to start a controversy," Mitchell, who will continue
to coach Gatlin, said via telephone from Florida. "I just want to
thank USA Track & Field, the U.S. Olympic Committee and everybody
for their support.
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"I would do it again if they asked me to."
Mitchell called the change "very exclusionary."
"There are not too many top level sprint coaches that would fall in
the criteria they are looking for," he said.
Mitchell, a three-time Olympian denied his past had resulted in the
change.
"In terms of dealing with my past, all parties that were involved
were very respectful of my past and, in my opinion, didn't really
use that as a driving force," he said.
"But I think there obviously are people out there that have strong
feelings about my past ... and didn't support me being the relay
coach."
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Greg
Stutchbury)
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