(Reuters) – Panamanian sprinter Virjilio Griggs has been handed a four-year ban for falsifying results in an attempt to gain entry to the 2017 world championships, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Monday.
Griggs, 25, the South American indoor 200 metres champion, has accepted the violations and is ineligible until July 23, 2021, the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal said in its ruling.
Information presented to the tribunal revealed Griggs in 2017 had sent the Panamanian federation a document that contained the results of an alleged competition that indicated he had run 100 metres in 10.11 seconds, within the qualifying standard for the 2017 worlds in London.
But an investigation by the Competitions Department of the sport’s world governing body noted the results were related to a competition in Texas that had been manipulated by replacing the date, venue and name of the athlete who had placed second.
Griggs therefore was not selected for the 2017 world championships and in 2018 admitted he had forwarded the document after another person had created it, the AIU said.
The AIU, an independent organization, manages all threats to the integrity of the sport of athletics.
Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Ken Ferris
