Doping controversy around coach Dennis Mitchell clouds Thomas–Jefferson-Wooden result in Budapest
When Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas finished second to Melissa Jefferson-Wooden at the recent track and field World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, she said: “I am an equal-opportunity doping hater.” Thomas congratulated Jefferson-Wooden on the result and last year posted that “doping coaches should be banned for life from coaching in the sport.”
The controversy centers on Jefferson-Wooden’s coach, Dennis Mitchell, whose competitive career included a 1998 positive test for testosterone; he attributed the elevated levels to having sex four times with his wife the night before. USA Track & Field cleared Mitchell at the time, but the IAAF did not and imposed a two-year ban; Mitchell later testified under oath that his former coach Trevor Graham had injected him with banned human growth hormone, an allegation Graham denied.
Jefferson-Wooden has emerged as one of the fastest women on the track, running 10.61sec in the 100m at the 2025 world championships in Tokyo to become the fourth-fastest woman of all time. In Budapest she won the 100m in 10.62sec into a 0.2m/sec headwind, a performance noted in relation to Florence Griffith Joyner’s 10.49sec world record.
The debate over Griffith Joyner’s 10.49 has long been contentious; Jefferson-Wooden’s times have prompted discussion about the record because the two athletes ahead of her on the all-time list achieved their marks with substantial tailwinds, while Jefferson-Wooden ran into a headwind in Budapest. Griffith Joyner, who also holds the 200m world record, died of an epileptic fit at the age of 38; she never failed a drug test, though her former training partner Darrell Robinson said in a paid interview with Stern in 1989 that he had sold her banned human growth hormone, an allegation she denied.
The Budapest meet carried a significant financial reward: Jefferson-Wooden collected $300,000 after completing the 100m-200m double. Kenny Bednarek, another athlete who has trained under Mitchell, earned $300,000 after winning the men’s 100m and 200m at the same event.
Mitchell’s coaching career has been accompanied by other high-profile controversies. He guided Justin Gatlin to the 2017 world championship 100m title, a result shadowed by Gatlin’s prior two doping suspensions, including a four-year ban for testosterone; Gatlin has denied ever taking PEDs. In 2017 Mitchell and agent Robert Wagner were filmed in an undercover Daily Telegraph operation appearing to offer testosterone and human growth hormone; Mitchell later said none of his athletes had ever taken drugs and Wagner said they were playing along with actors, while Gatlin cut ties with Wagner and ended his relationship with Mitchell.
More recently, Marvin Bracy-Williams tested positive for testosterone soon after joining Mitchell’s group and was banned for 45 months; the United States Anti-Doping Agency confirmed it had been tipped off about Bracy-Williams’s drug taking, and sources said the inside information came from within the Mitchell training group. Mitchell’s lawyer Ryan J Stevens told the Guardian: “Coach Mitchell is a different man than he was nearly 30 years ago. He’s committed to clean sport and strict compliance with anti-doping rules. He had absolutely no involvement in Mr Bracy-Williams’ personal choices that resulted in his sanction. Coach Mitchell insists on transparency, accountability, and integrity in every aspect of his coaching.” The Guardian has contacted Jefferson-Wooden for comment.
Thomas and Jefferson-Wooden are likely to represent Team USA at next year’s world championships and could be front-line contenders as the sport builds toward the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, a sequence of events that the article says could make relay practice awkward.