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Olympic sprint champion and former University of Tennessee star Justin Gatlin has appealed his four-year doping suspension in an attempt to return to the track for the Beijing Games in August.

The notice was filed Monday to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the international body that has the final say in such matters.

“I’m optimistic that we can get a ruling in time,” Gatlin’s new attorney Maurice Suh told The Associated Press. “I’d be extraordinarily disappointed if due to a procedural issue Justin didn’t have a chance for a hearing that could allow him to compete in the Olympics.”

Suh, who also represents cyclist Floyd Landis in his doping case, asked that the CAS hearing be held in New York.

A U.S. arbitration panel earlier this month reduced the 25-year-old sprinter’s potential eight-year ban to four, but Gatlin wants a further reduction.

He tested positive for excessive levels of testosterone at the Kansas Relays in 2006, his second doping offense. The first came in 2001 when Gatlin tested positive for amphetamines, part of a prescribed medication he was taking for attention deficit disorder.

Gatlin wants the 2001 offense erased. That would make Gatlin’s 2006 case his first offense, clearing the way for a further reduced ban. First doping offenses often result in a two-year ban, which would make him eligible to run in May, a month before the U.S. Olympic trials.

In its ruling, the three-member panel agreed Gatlin committed a doping offense in 2006. But they expressed reservations about the 2001 finding, indicating it could be challenged, but said they did not have the authority to rule.

The attorney acknowledged CAS could impose a lengthier suspension, even a lifetime ban, but it’s a risk Gatlin, who turns 26 on Feb. 10, is willing to take.

“We are well aware of the issues arising from bringing an appeal,” Suh told the AP, “but at this juncture for Justin a four-year ban would keep him out of the ’08 Olympics, the world championships in ’09 and be devastating for his career.”

In the 2001 doping incident, Gatlin took medicine to help him study for an exam while a student at the University of Tennessee. Three days later, at the world junior championships, a small amount of the drug was detected in his system.

In a separate filing last week, Gatlin asked the U.S. arbitration panel that considered the 2001 positive test to officially close the case so that it, too, could be appealed.

“We are not seeking to reopen the case,” Suh said. “The main concern we have is ensuring this whole series of appeals and related litigation moves forward as quickly as it can.”

Although the 2001 panel found Gatlin did not use the drug to help his performance, there was no final order issued, Suh said. And the international track federation reinstated Gatlin after one year of what was to have been a two-year ban.

“To use this sanction to bar him from participating in the Olympics is a prime example of unfairness to an athlete,” Suh said in a statement.

“Most troublingly, Suh added, “it constitutes a discrimination against a person with a diagnosed disability who was attempting to obtain education.”

Gatlin still might file suit in federal court alleging that penalizing him for the 2001 case is a violation of the Americans with Disability Act.

“We are examining all our options,” Suh said. “We haven’t ruled anything out.”

© 2008, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.