On Monday, USADA introduced developments in a serious doping scandal stemming from occasions in December 2023. Richmond, Texas, coach Michael Vowell, has accepted a lifetime ban from the game after offering his 16-year-old son with testosterone gel in the course of the 2023 USATF Junior Olympic Cross-Nation Championships. His son, Seth Vowell, obtained a lowered sanction of two years.
Observe and Subject Coach Michael Vowell and Observe and Subject Athlete Seth Vowell Settle for Sanctions for Anti-Doping Rule Violations https://t.co/qJlMugmhSW
— USADA (@usantidoping) June 30, 2025
The investigation started after USADA obtained a tip from a whistleblower. In accordance with the press launch, proof later confirmed that Michael “administered his personal prescription testosterone gel to his minor baby.” Even in topical kind, testosterone, an anabolic agent, is prohibited always in athletics.
Michael, 49, was discovered to have violated three anti-doping guidelines: possession of a prohibited substance, administration of a prohibited substance and complicity.
Whereas normal anti-doping violations sometimes end in a four-year suspension, Seth will serve a two-year ban as a result of circumstances of this case; all aggressive outcomes since Dec. 10, 2023 will likely be disqualified.
A tenth-grader at William B. Travis Excessive College in Richmond, Seth held private bests of two:09.28 within the 800m and 4:35.87 within the 1,600m–each recorded in 2024 and now forfeited.
“This case is a devastating instance of why it’s so essential for athlete assist personnel, together with coaches and oldsters, to place athlete well-being above all else, particularly when involving minors,” USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart stated within the press launch. “And after they don’t, as on this case, they are going to be held accountable to the total power of the principles.”
Each Michael and Seth’s provisional suspensions started on March 19, 2025.
