John Capel

John Capel ( left) 2008

John Capel ( born November 27, 1978 in Brooksville, Florida ) is a former American track and field athlete. He was 2003 World Champion in the 200 -meter run.

Capel studied at the University of Florida in Gainesville. There he first played in the American football team of the University. In 2000 he left the team to concentrate on his career as a sprinter can. In the U.S. elimination fights Capel managed to qualify for the Olympic Summer Games in Sydney. In the Olympic final but he dragged himself then only in eighth after he had thought the referee would have shot down the race for a false start.

After the games, Capel returned to football. At the NFL Combine in 2001 he was, however, tested positive for marijuana and detained. Three years after the Olympic Games Capel celebrated the biggest success of his career. At the World Athletics Championships in Paris in 2003, he was over 200 meters world champion. In a tight race Capel was at the end with a time of 20.30 s to a hundredth of a second ahead of his compatriot Darvis Patton.

After he had to be at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 Shawn Crawford, Bernard Williams and Justin Gatlin, who won in this order in Athens medals over 200 meters, the advantage he was at the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005 again won at the start and the bronze medal. Before him were two Americans again. This time attended Justin Gatlin and Wallace Spearmon of the total triumph of Americans over 200 m.

After Capel was tested in 2004 and again in February 2006 was positive for marijuana, locked him in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for two years. After the expiration of the lock he tried in 2008 to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing, but different in the U.S. Trials in the 100 and 200 m from each in the semifinals.

John Capel had a competition weight of 82 kg at a height of 1.80 m.