COLORADO SPRINGS, United States (AFP) - American 400 metres sprinter Alvin Harrison has accepted a four-year ban handed down for doping offences, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced.
The 30-year-old Harrison, a 2000 US Olympic 400m relay gold medallist and silver medallist over 400m, was banned for his role in the BALCO affair and not for testing positive.
Harrison's twin brother Calvin is currently banned for doping offences.
A USADA statement said Tuesday: "Harrison admitted to using numerous undetectable performance-enhancing drugs.
"These included anabolic steroids known as 'the clear' and 'the cream', EPO, insulin, growth hormone and modafinil."
The BALCO laboratory in California, which is being accused of supplying a number of top athletes with a range of banned substances including steroids, is at the centre of the biggest drugs scandal in American athletics history.
A number of top athletes were implicated in the scandal. A court case is still ongoing in San Francisco.
BALCO Labs executive director Victor Conte, who is accused of steroid distribution, two weeks ago asked a US federal court to drop the charges against him because of procedural errors made at the time of his arrest.
The Internal Revenue Service investigation sparked grand jury hearings that saw a number of star sports figures testify, including baseball slugger Barry Bonds, boxer Shane Mosley and athletics stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.
Conte and three others face steroid charges that include the creation of the once-undetectable steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG).
Calvin Harrison was left out of the USA's track and field team for the Athens Olympics after being banned for two years on August 2 for a second doping violation.
Harrison tested positive for the prohibited stimulant modafinil at the 2003 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, on June 21, 2003.
He was suspended for two years from all sanctioned competition beginning on July 26, 2004, the date of his arbitration hearing.
The USADA statement added: "We said a year ago that the situation at BALCO appeared to be doping of the worst sort. Unfortunately, this has proven to be true.
"USADA is thankful for the steadfast support of the clean athletes, the U.S. Senate, the USOC and the IAAF as we continue our efforts to protect the rights of clean athletes and seek justice for those who have cheated their fellow competitors and defrauded the public".