Ex-hammer throwing coach sentenced for doping

METZ, France: A former French national hammer throwing coach has been given a one-year suspended prison sentence for promoting doping at an athletic club, his lawyer said Friday.

Raphael Piolanti, 50, was also handed a lifetime ban and fined 1,000 euros ($1,170) by a court in the northeast French city of Metz on Thursday.

Once a champion hammer thrower, the former French Athletics Federation (FFA) coach was convicted for pushing doping at a club in Amneville, near Metz, in 2012 and 2013.

Hammer thrower Quentin Bigot, then 22, pointed the finger at Piolanti after he tested positive for two anabolic steroids at the 2014 European Athletics Championships. Bigot said Piolanti, his coach for 10 years, had encouraged him to take the steroids to gain strength in January 2012.

Other athletes then came forward to support the claims. Piolanti denied the accusations during the trial.

Bigot, who had been a great hope for the future of French hammer throwing, was banned from competing for four years, with two suspended, by the FFA.