San Francisco: Olympic 400-meter relay gold medallist and world record-setter Antonio Pettigrew has admitted doping as he testified in the perjury trial of athletics coach Trevor Graham, the New York Times reported.

Pettigrew, 40, was part of the US 4x400m relay team that won gold in Sydney in 2000.

The American never tested positive during an athletics career in which he also earned World Championship gold over 400m in 1991 and world relay gold in 1997, 1999 and 2001, as well as a part in a world record-setting 4x400m relay team in 1998.

Pettigrew, who once trained under Graham, was called to testify before US District Judge Susan Illston having been implicated by the main prosecution witness at the trial, Angel Heredia.

Heredia, a self-described steroids dealer from Mexico, alleged Pettigrew and others received banned, performance-enhancing drugs from him through Graham.

Graham, who also coached drug disgraced sprint stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of lying to federal agents investigating the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs during interviews with them in 2004.

"I'm in it now, and I have to face the consequences," Pettigrew said, according to a New York Times report posted on the newspaper's website yesterday.

The Times reported that Pettigrew admitted that he hadn't been truthful with federal agents in February 2005, when he was interviewed as part of the BALCO steroid distribution scandal.

Source : PTI