At one point, Tim Montgomery was the world’s fastest man. Montgomery was a track and field athlete and competed in the 100-meter dash. He had a lot of success as a sprinter.

His track career would quickly turn for the worst. All his track accomplishments and even his record running the 100-meter dash all went away because of one thing he did that banned him from the sport for a few years.

Tim Montgomery’s track and field career

In 1996 Montgomery competed in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. He competed on the 4 X 100-meter relay team that finished second and received a silver medal. Montgomery qualified for his first World Championships in 1997 in Athens, Greece. He went on to win the bronze medal for the 100-meter dash during the 1997 World Championships.

On September 14, 2002, Montgomery had the best race of his life. He went on to run a 9.78 in Paris, France, which broke the record, and he became the fastest man in the world. That was a massive accomplishment for Montgomery, and he put in a lot of work. Unfortunately, his record was taken away from home later on in his career because of doping. It’s like the race never happened.

After Montgomery got caught using illegal performance-enhancing drugs by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, all of his results and awards since March 31, 2001, were all stripped away. Montgomery was then banned from track and field, and after he received the ban, he announced his retirement. His career quickly changed in a short period.

Tim Montgomery dealing with BALCO

Montgomery was a part of a number of athletes who received steroids and human growth hormone from BALCO, a laboratory near San Francisco, California. In 2008, Montgomery admitted to taking testosterone and human growth hormone before the 2000 Sydney Games 4 X 100 relay. He helped the United States claim the gold medal in that race.

Montgomery’s decisions made his career in jeopardy and cost him a world record that he broke and numerous medals. It’s not often that someone breaks a world record, so when it does happen, it’s a big deal, especially in the track and field world.

Tim Montgomery facing trouble with the law after his career was over

Things did not get any better for the former sprinter after his career was over. In April 2006, he was indicted and arrested on fraud charges for his alleged involvement in a scheme involving money laundering. Montgomery was accused of depositing three fraud checks that totaled out to $775,000. It was alleged that he received $20,000 for his involvement. He pleaded guilty in April 2007 and was sentenced to 46 months in prison on May 16, 2008.

Montgomery was arrested again in October 2008 on heroin charges. He was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. Montgomery was in a minimum-security federal prison camp at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. He was released in 2016. Montgomery went from being the world’s fastest man to someone serving time in jail. He could have gone on to have a successful track and field career if he hadn’t gotten caught up with the troubles that he had faced.