Muscle Sport Magazine

Tim Montgomery Goes from Rat to Dope

Former Olympic Hero Completes Downfall with Guilty Plea on Heroin Charges

When they coined the old saying, “How the mighty have fallen,” they could have been writing it about Tim Montgomery. Three memorable track and field performances that included silver and gold medals and a world record have come full circle with a guilty plea in a Virginia courtroom for heroin distribution.

This comes a week before his trial was set to begin, and pursuant to his four year sentence for a check cashing scam and him being stripped of his athletic accomplishments from the BALCO investigation.

It would have been difficult beating the latest case in court with audio and video tape evidence of Montgomery dealing 111 grams of heroin for $8,450 during four meetings with a confidential informant.

Montgomery has been in jail since pleading guilty in a money laundering scheme that included his former coach Steven Riddick and Marion Jones, the female track star and a former lover.

This is a man that won a silver in the 1996 Olympics, a gold in 2000 and broke the 100 meter mark with a 9.78 in September 2002, earning the “fastest man on earth” moniker.

All of Montgomery’s accomplishments since 2001 were discredited due to his testimony to the United States Anti-Doping Agency that he and others obtained performance-enhancing drugs from BALCO, resulting in a two-year ban. That is when Montgomery announced his retirement, which was basically a formality. He testified against the others in the case, including Chryste Gaines, which resulted in his ban being reduced from four years. The troubling part about that is if Montgomery intended on retiring, what difference did it make if he had a four or forty year ban? He obviously was looking out for himself in other areas in the case.

It is one thing to get caught taking steroids, but to peddle dope like a pusher is a different level altogether. Montgomery deserves everything that he gets and adding more jail time to his previous conviction is warranted. He has made many bad decisions in his life and this whole group of track and field athletes – which included Montgomery, Jones, Gaines and Kelli White – all have paid the price. But only one has sunk to the level of criminality that Montgomery has. He has become an embarrassment to athletes worldwide and himself, as well.

Photo credit: Wendell Spencer files/Wordpress

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