By Amy Shipley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 29, 2008

The FBI in Washington will investigate whether seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens committed perjury when he told a congressional committee he had never used steroids or human growth hormone, an FBI spokesman said yesterday.

A day after the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform recommended a federal investigation into whether Clemens lied while giving testimony under oath Feb. 5 and Feb. 13, the Department of Justice referred the matter to the FBI.

"The request to open an investigation into the Congressional testimony of Roger Clemens has been turned over to the FBI and will receive appropriate investigative action by the FBI's Washington Field Office," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in a statement.

In a statement Wednesday, Clemens's attorney Rusty Hardin called the committee's decision to refer the matter to the Justice Department "unwarranted and not supported by the facts" but added that he hoped that "what has been a frenzied rush to judgment will be replaced by a careful and unbiased review of all of the evidence."

In other news, 2004 Olympic 100-meter champion Justin Gatlin filed an appeal of his four-year drug suspension this week with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, arguing that he deserved no more than a two-year ban. Gatlin's attorney Maurice Suh requested a decision by this May so Gatlin would be able to compete in the U.S. Olympic trials for track and field at the end of June and defend his title at the Summer Games in Beijing.

On April 22, 2006, Gatlin tested positive test for testosterone or its precursors. He received the four-year ban on Dec. 31, 2007, from the American Arbitration Association.

Though Gatlin claims in the appeal that he was sabotaged by his massage therapist, the appeal focuses on a 2001 positive test for a stimulant in Gatlin's medication for attention-deficit disorder. Gatlin argues that the positive test does not constitute a prior offense and cannot be used to enhance the sanction for his 2006 offense.

It also argues that Gatlin should receive credit for the assistance he provided to federal investigators when he secretly tape-recorded more than 10 telephone calls in 2006 with his former coach, Trevor Graham, who was indicted in November 2006 on charges of lying to federal investigators involved in a steroids probe.

Gatlin hired Suh, who is representing cyclist Floyd Landis in anti-doping case, in January. The appeal is expected to be heard in April.