Mickey Grimes (born October 10, 1976) is a former

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sprinter who specialized over

100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. He won the 100 metres at the 2003 Pan American Games, but was later stripped of his title for testing positive for

ephedrine Ephedrine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is often used to prevent low blood pressure during anesthesia. It has also been used for asthma, narcolepsy, and obesity but is not the preferred treatment. It is of unclear benefit in ...

. Grimes began his career as a hurdler, winning the

CIF California State Meet The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direc ...

300 Hurdles championship in 1995 for Canyon Springs High School in

Moreno Valley Moreno Valley is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and is part of the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Riverside County by population and one of the Inland Empire's po ...

. In the process, he defeated future double Olympic and double world champion Felix Sanchez. On August 15, 2003, at the

Weltklasse Zürich Weltklasse Zürich ( en, World Class Zurich) is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF G ...

, Grimes became the 42nd person to break the

10-second barrier The 10-second barrier is the physical and psychological barrier of completing the 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds. The achievement is traditionally regarded as the hallmark of a world-class male sprinter. Its significance has become less i ...

, a whisper behind the 41st member, future Olympic Champion

Justin Gatlin Justin Alexander Gatlin (born February 10, 1982) is a retired American sprinter who competed in the 60 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meters. He is the 2004 Olympic Champion in the 100 meters, the 2005 and 2017 World Champion in the 100 meters, ...

Doping

Grimes tested positive for

at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

and as a result he was disqualified from the 100 m sprint, which he'd won, and the US 4x100-meter team, which he had been a part of, lost the gold medal. Grimes also received a public warning. On May 25, 2004, he was tested positive for norandrosterone and was ruled ineligible for two years (2004–2006).

References

External links

* 1976 births Living people American male sprinters Doping cases in athletics American sportspeople in doping cases Track and field athletes from California Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 Pan American Games Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States {{US-sprint-athletics-bio-stub