U.S. officials resist naming names

Under fire, track chief maintains he's just following the rules.

By Compiled from Times wire reports

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 28, 2000

SYDNEY, Australia -- The head of USA Track & Field has rejected calls by the White House drug czar to name the American athletes who have failed drug tests.

Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug policy director, sent a letter Monday to Craig Masback, executive director of the U.S. federation, urging him to make a full public accounting of positive test results.

In his reply Wednesday, Masback said he agreed with the need to bolster the credibility of drug testing programs. But, he said, his organization has to stick to the rules.

"American law, (U.S. Olympic Committee) arbitration precedent and our own rules require that we treat athletes as innocent until proven guilty and that we maintain the confidentiality of our process," he said.

In Sydney, the federation has been accused of covering up doping cases. Arne Ljungqvist, the drug chief of track's world federation, accused the American body of suppressing 12 to 15 cases.

Confirmation that American shot putter C.J. Hunter, husband of 100-meter gold medalist Marion Jones, failed four drug tests for nandrolone this summer increased suspicions.

"There is a perception in Europe that while the U.S. is very critical and very aggressive toward people who have responsibility for anti-doping, there isn't a lot of evidence there has been a big focus on the problem in the U.S.," said Kevan Gosper, an International Olympic Committee vice president from Australia.

"Some of the most high-profile sports in the U.S. on the Olympic program do not submit themselves to vigorous anti-doping tests. Maybe it needs something like this for the Americans to take a hard look at themselves." The drug scandals have given International Olympic Committee officials ammunition to express the lingering anti-American resentment related to the Salt Lake City bribery case.

IOC members are still angry at being portrayed as corrupt as a whole. They're also still bitter about the scathing attacks by U.S. lawmakers and McCaffrey, who said the IOC was unfit, unwilling and unable to lead the fight against drugs. Though McCaffrey has recently praised the IOC's new anti-doping efforts, all has not been forgiven.

Even China, frequently targeted by U.S. swim coaches as being lax on drugs, has weighed in.

Huixian He, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Olympic Committee, said that by suppressing Hunter's positive tests, U.S. track officials showed a lack of resolve in fighting doping.

"Only by properly managing your own affairs, with everybody doing a good job of their own anti-doping work, can this big cancer be eradicated," He said. "You must start with yourself."

Masback told McCaffrey a "small number" of drug cases still are under review.

The U.S. federation has "tested more athletes, for more substances, for a longer period of time than any other sports organization," he said. "We have disciplined those who have broken the rules."

In an interview, Masback denied any coverups and insisted the federation was bound by legal rules that are different from those in the rest of the world.

"If that is enough to cast aspersions on me personally and our sport, we have to live it," he said.

Raducan awaits decision

The Court of Arbitration for Sport still was deliberating Wednesday whether Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan could reclaim the all-around gold medal she lost for taking cold medicine that contained a banned substance.

"It's a very interesting and serious matter," said Ion Tiriac, president of Romania's Olympic committee.

No one is disputing that pseudoephedrine, a banned stimulant, was in Raducan's system. Feeling ill from a cold, she took two over-the-counter cold pills. And no one is alleging Raducan took the drug for a sinister reason. A stimulant such as pseudoephedrine causes the heart to race, the last thing a gymnast wants when she is about to do aerial somersaults.

The court's most famous case came at the 1998 Olympics, when it restored Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati's gold after he tested positive for marijuana. The court said the IOC didn't have an agreement with the international ski federation governing marijuana use. Pseudoephedrine is on the IOC and the International Gymnastics Federation's lists of banned substances.

"You just can't leave the field of competition with a gold medal if you've tested positive," IOC vice president Dick Pound said. "Whatever the cause, you've potentially affected the competition."

On The Wire