Justin Gatlin cannot win the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Athlete of the Year Award.

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies told Reuters that the world’s governing body for track and field made changes to this year’s selection criteria.

Under the new criteria, any athlete who has been sanction for serious doping offence is ineligible to be shortlisted for the award.

Gatlin was banned for four years after a positive test in 2006.

According to the Reuters story, which quoted Davies, "the majority of Council Members who took the floor supported this recommendation because it enhanced the credibility of the sport, it protected the rights of clean athletes and it assisted in further establishing inappropriate behavior in the sport that would not be honored by the IAAF in the future."

In 2014, Gatlin the fastest man for the past two seasons was nominated for Athlete of the Year. He, however, failed to make the top three.

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