Merritt ultimately came out on top on the biggest stage of all as one year later he won Olympic gold ahead of his Wariner in Beijing four years' ago by a record margin and in an astonishing personal best of 43.75 seconds. He added the world title to his collection just a year later in Berlin in 2009, once again beating Wariner into silver, and the world was suddenly at the feet of America's great new athletics star.

But disaster struck at the end of 2009 as he failed three drugs tests, testing positive for the banned steroid dehydroepiandrosterone.

The failed test was followed by the surprising confession from Merritt (pictured below, right) that he had consumed it through the use of a penis enlargement drug and he accepted a 21-month ban from sport.


He returned to action last year in a successful season that culminated with him winning silver in the 400m behind Kirani James (pictured above, left) of Grenada at the World Championships in Daegu and gold in the 4x400m relay team.

But last year also saw Merritt involved in one of the most high profile cases in the history of Olympic sport as he approached the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to seek clarity over his ban from London 2012.

The move started a chain of events that eventually saw the USOC and International Olympic Committee (IOC) file a joint request for arbitration on the IOC's rule 45 or 'Osaka Rule', which banned any athlete serving a suspension of six months or more for doping violations from the subsequent Olympic Games. The ruling was declared as "invalid and unenforceable", Merritt was eligible to defend his title and the global repercussions of the move forced the British Olympic Association (BOA) to scrap their lifetime ban on drug cheats in a high profile case earlier this year (although that is a different story altogether).

But perhaps the most surprising thing about the entire tale is that no one appears to speak to the man at the centre of the storm himself. Merritt is simply an object that nobody appears bothered to consult.


It was therefore an enlightening experience to actually speak to Merritt in person at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas where we were both attending the 2012 Team USA Media Summit. Still only 25-years-old, Merritt was surprisingly soft spoken as he discussed the incident that will now forever be associated with him.

"One of the worst things about the ban is the media because now, whenever people write about me, they call me a drug cheat and the headline always says doping or something like that," he explained with a look of resignation as opposed to anger across his face.

"That is tough because I am not a drug cheat. I didn't take anything to improve my performance and I took it completely outside of the competition period. I had no advantage and my samples even showed that. But people just run with what they see and they see doping. What I took, I am sure that a lot of men out there take. My only mistake was that I am an elite athlete and I guess I was just guilty of not checking it properly. When I got the call telling me about the ban, I was in a state of disbelief and shock. I know that as an athlete, you have to take responsibility for what goes in you and you have to check it properly. I've definitely paid for what I did in terms of not checking but I'm not in the same bracket as what you would call a drug cheat. That just isn't me. I got to the top through hard work and dedication, not by cheating. People will still doubt me but what else can I do? I've been cleared by the highest court and I can't see what else I can do. I'm coming back and I'm just as proud of myself as I was when I left."

Merritt's attitude towards drug testing has understandably been altered by the process.

"Drug testing in sport is very important and we need it to catch the cheats," he explained. "But there are so many substances on the prohibited list that it is honestly very hard to avoid absolutely everything. There are literally thousands of banned substances. Not all of them are steroids and mine wasn't a steroid but right now, if I am ever in any doubt, I just call my lawyer. My case was really unique though in that it wasn't a traditional performance enhancing drug. I don't feel like other athletes look at me any differently than they did before. They look at me, look at my body, and they see that I am not a drug cheat. I will keep taking the tests whenever they are required and I will keep working hard for that gold at London 2012. That is my goal. I have a gift to run fast and I owe it to myself to work as hard as I can to maximise that."


Merritt admits that despite everything that has happened, he has always put the incident in perspective due to the tragic death of his older brother Antwan Merritt, who died at just 19. It was in November 1999, that Merritt received earth-shattering news that Antwan had died, falling from a dorm room window at Shaw University. The incident came just hours after Antwan had had an altercation with another man.

"Basically, three big guys came up to his room that night and he wasn't a big guy," Merritt said. "He was thrown out of the dorm window and he died not long after. I think the guys were charged but they couldn't prove that he was thrown out of the window. It was hard and even though he was a few years older than me, we were really close and I used to hang out with him and his friends. He never saw me race but I am doing this for both of us. Before I race, I always say a prayer and he is a big part of that. He is always with me and watching over me. He will be with me in London."

It is London 2012 that is now foremost in Merritt's thoughts and he faces strong competition for gold. Grenada's James will be confident after his World Championship victory over Merritt, while Merritt's old rival Wariner is set to return following a long injury. But Merritt also admits some concerns over unlikely medal contender Oscar Pistorius (pictured below, left) of South Africa. Pistorius, the double leg amputee that runs on prosthetic legs, is closing in on his goal of competing at both the Olympic and Paralympics after he made the able-bodied World Championships last year. He is getting faster all the time and there is endless debate over the 'blades' he runs on and whether they give him an unfair advantage. Merritt is undecided.


"You know, he is getting better every year," Merritt said slowly. "I haven't really been keeping up with it but I don't know how the judge made a ruling on it and what goes on with the prosthetic legs. I'll tell you a story. I'm down at the IMG Academy (an elite training venue in America) and a guy there told me that he has a friend who runs with two prosthetic legs. The guy ran 23 seconds over 200m. He got a couple of inches added to his legs and in four months, he ran 21 seconds. That is huge and I don't really know how to take that news. I just hope the federation (the IAAF) keeps track of what is happening with him just so it is fair. I mean, I don't know what happens there.

"You are talking about technology here. Technology gets better every day. I don't really think it about it a lot, I'm just focused on my own training, but anytime you talk about technology, you just don't know."

But in real terms, Pistorius is unlikely to threaten Merritt. In fact, if the American is at his very best, he could be in a league of his own like he was at Beijing 2008. But Merritt says that victory at London 2012 wouldn't mean redemption for him after a traumatic few years.


"If I win gold, I mean when I win gold, I won't even be thinking about what went on," he said. "It will just be about the hard work paying off. That is all it is; hard work and dedication. That is what wins the medals and nothing else."

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames