NORFOLK, Virginia: Former US track and field star Tim Montgomery pleaded guilty to heroin distribution charges at a federal court hearing here on Thursday.

Montgomery, who was once dubbed “the world’s fastest man,” appeared briefly before American judge Jerome Friedman. The Olympic gold medallist was charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of over 100 grams of heroin.

Already serving a four-year prison sentence for his role in a check-fraud conspiracy, Montgomery faces a minimum of five years in prison on the heroin charge. His sentencing is set for October 10. Montgomery also could be fined up to two million dollars and faces at least four years of supervised release.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Montgomery sold 111 grams of heroin for nearly 8,500 dollars to an undercover DEA informant. Four meetings between Montgomery and the informant were videotaped and recorded by the DEA.

In spite of being led into Norfolk’s US District Courthouse in handcuffs, Montgomery was smiling and laughing with his lawyer James Broccoletti. But there is very little for Montgomery, 33, to smile about these days. He pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan in April 2007 to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and two counts of bank fraud in a counterfeit check scheme that also embroiled fellow Olympic champion sprinter and former partner Marion Jones.

Montgomery’s world record-breaking 100 metre run of 9.78 seconds, set in Paris in 2002, also was erased from the historical lists.