Drugs allegations rock US camp

Dennis Mitchell was the focus of a previous drugs row

On the eve of the Olympic Games athletics programme, a leading international athletics official accused the United States of covering up more than 20 positive drug tests over the past two years.

The row between the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) and US Track and Field (UST&F), which denies the allegations, will cause considerable embarrassment for Olympic chiefs, who have been claiming that these Games are the most drug-free for decades.

According to a senior IAAF source in Sydney for the Games, the UST&F failed to report as many as 17 positive tests in 1999. And a further nine positives in 2000.

Under IAAF rules, a national governing body is required to report all doping cases to the international federation, together with details of the sanctions imposed.

There are a number of adverse findings which the American federation decides to deal with itself. How can we deal with cases we do not know about?

  Arne Ljungqvist

The claims were confirmed by Professor Arne Ljungqvist, the hard-line Swedish chairman of the IAAF's anti-doping commission.

Major problem

"It is a major problem for us," Ljungqvist said. "It has been happening for quite a few years.

"There are a number of adverse findings which the American federation decides to deal with itself and not tell us about. How can we deal with cases we do not know about?"

Ljungqvist also said other national federations, including Great Britain, had adopted the American policy.

US Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Moran, however, denied on Thursday that any members of the American team had been involved in hearings of the International Olympic Committee or Court for Arbitration for Sport, in permanent session during the Games, because of doping matters.

Rumours

Ljungqvist chairs the IAAF's drugs panel

"I spent all day yesterday dealing with rumours," Moran told reporters.

"The USOC has not been informed, formally or informally, of any representatives of any sport on the US Olympic team with a pending drugs positive."

Craig Masback, the chief executive of UST&F, also rejected the criticism, blaming the IAAF. "Their management is appalling," he said.

Masback said he had heard the suggestion of 17 unreported cases in 1999, but dismissed it as "preposterous", and suggested they may be due to "clerical error".

Disputes

The IAAF has had disputes before over the manner in which US athletics authorities have dealt with doping offences.

Three years ago, the IAAF passed a special rule to suspend double world champion Mary Slaney when American officials opted not to sanction the ageing distance runner for an adverse test for testosterone at the 1996 US Olympic Trials.

The USOC has not been informed of any representatives on the US Olympic team with a pending drugs positive

  Mike Moran
USOC spokesman

The US included Slaney in their team for the Atlanta Games and allowed her to race at the 1997 World Indoor Championships before the IAAF stepped in.

The IAAF also spent an estimated $150,000 in taking Dennis Mitchell, the 1992 Olympic 100m bronze medallist, to arbitration after US authorities had accepted his excuse of having had sex and beer the night before his adverse dope test.

The IAAF eventually suspended Mitchell for two years.

American sport is also bracing itself for revelations when Wade Exum, the former anti-doping chief of the USOC, takes his former employers to court for constructive dismissal.

Exum is thought to have details of drug cover-ups involving leading athletes going back several years.