Graham banned for life by USADA

Former elite athletics coach Trevor Graham has been banned for life for violating anti-doping rules, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said.

The former trainer of disgraced sprinters Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin, Graham is banned from coaching or participating in any competition or activity organised by the US Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Track & Field (USATF), the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and other world-wide bodies, USADA said in a statement.

Graham was convicted in US federal court in May of lying to federal agents investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) doping scandal.

He has yet to be sentenced and has asked the court to acquit him of the conviction on the charge that he lied about his relationship with an admitted steroids dealer.

His lifetime ban began on Tuesday.

"It sends a powerful reminder that coaches and athlete support personnel are not above the rules," USADA chief executive officer Travis Tygart told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"There's a misconception out there that they are because we don't drug-test them. This shows that we'll use all of our authority in order to do that."