Antonio Pettigrew, who was stripped of a 2000 Olympic 4x400m relay gold medal for doping, has died at the age of 42, and authorities said his death could have been accident or suicide.
Pettigrew was found dead in the back seat of his car, Chatham County Sheriff’s Major Gary Blankenship said on Tuesday.
Blankenship said the car was locked and there was evidence that Pettigrew had taken sleeping pills and there was no sign of foul play.
“Obviously we don’t know if it was intentionally or accidental at this point,” Blankenship said of the cause of death.
Blankenship said two friends discovered Pettigrew’s car. They had retraced his route between his home and the University of North Carolina, where he was an assistant athletics coach.
Authorities responding to their call shortly after 3am entered the car and pronounced Pettigrew dead at the scene.
Blankenship said investigators would probably speak with Pettigrew’s family and friends to get an idea of his recent frame of mind.
Pettigrew’s wife, Cassandra, had reported him missing from their home on Monday.
Pettigrew, who won the 1991 400m world title in Tokyo, was a member of the 4x400m US relay team that won the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
However, the International Olympic Committee stripped Pettigrew and his teammates — including legend Michael Johnson — of their medals after he admitted, during a trial against former coach Trevor Graham, to doping.
University of North Carolina athletics director Dick Baddour said the university was “deeply saddened” to learn of Pettigrew’s death.
Pettigrew is survived by his wife and a son, Antonio Pettigrew Jr.
Pettigrew had never tested positive in a career in which his 1991 world 400m title was followed by World Championships relay gold in 1997 and 1999 before his triumph with the US squad in Sydney.
However, he revealed his drug use when called to testify in Graham’s trial on perjury charges in 2008, after the athlete was implicated by prosecution witness Angel Heredia.
Heredia, a self-described steroids dealer from Mexico, alleged Pettigrew and others received banned performance-enhancing drugs from him through Graham. Pettigrew acknowledged using the prohibited substance erythropoietin and human growth hormone from 1997 to 2003.
His admission also cost him his relay gold medals from the 1997 and 1999 World Championships.
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