Track sprinter Stephen Alfred accepted an eight-year suspension from competition this week after testing positive for exogenous testosterone or its precursors and for human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG).

Alfred, 39, showed an elevated testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio in an out-of-competition test conducted by USADA on May 28, 2006. Follow-up tests indicated that the testosterone imbalance resulted from the presence of exogenous testosterone.

Alfred also tested positive for hCG on June 10, 2006 at the Pan American cycling championships in Brazil. The two positives are considered one doping offense according to the World Anti-Doping Code. Alfred, however, had tested positive for norandrosterone at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, making the 2006 incident his second offense.

USADA officials said Friday that Alfred could have faced a lifetime suspension for that second offense, but added they deemed the eight-year suspension appropriate “given the nature and circumstance of this first doping offense for which Alfred received a reduced suspension of six months”.

Exogenous testosterone and its precursors and hCG are classified as prohibited substances under the rules of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the international federation for the sport of cycling, and USADA, both of which adopted the World Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) Prohibited List.

Alfred’s eight-year period of ineligibility commenced January 30, 2007, the date he accepted the sanction. Additionally, his competitive results obtained on and subsequent to May 28, 2006, are disqualified and Alfred forfeits any medals, points and prizes.

USA Cycling will carry out the sanction.