Hunter comes under IOC fire

Hunter failed four separate drug tests

CJ Hunter's pleas of innocence have been dismissed by the International Olympic Committee after the American shot putter was revealed to have failed four drug tests.

IOC vice president Dick Pound and executive board member Jacques Rogge accused Hunter, the husband of sprinter Marion Jones, of using the "typical excuse" by blaming nutritional supplements for his predicament.

Hunter failed four separate tests for the banned steroid nandrolone while competing in Europe this summer but claimed he was not to blame.

"I can't explain," said a tearful Hunter at a news conference on Tuesday. "I don't know what has happened. I can promise everybody I'm going to find out."

But Pound said Hunter's reaction was to be expected.

Usual thing

"This is the usual thing," he said. "Athletes always say 'it's not possible', followed by 'there must be some mistake in the sample', followed by 'I must have got it from the toilet seat', followed by 'here's a writ for $12million from lawyer'.

The International Amateur Athletic Federation's medical commission chairman Arne Ljungqvist confirmed the 1999 shot putt world champion had failed two out-of-competition tests (in Milan and Oslo) and two in-competition tests at the Bislett Games in Oslo on 28 July and the Weltklasse Grand Prix meet in Zurich, Switzerland, on 11 August.

Athletes always say 'it's not possible', followed by 'there must be some mistake in the sample', followed by 'I must have got it from the toilet seat', followed by 'here's a writ for $12million from lawyer'

  Dick Pound

Ljungqvist confirmed Hunter's Bislett Games sample had a concentration of nandrolone that was 2,000 nanograms per millilitre of urine - 1,000 times over the permitted level.

Rogge, vice chairman of the IOC medical commission, said it was impossible to reach such a high concentration of nandrolone by taking supplements, dismissing claims by Hunter and his nutritionist Victor Conte that the positive tests resulted from supplements he was taking.

Rogge said: "Even if they're spiked with nandrolone, there is no way you will have 2,000 nanograms."

Injection

"Such a high level can only indicate an injection or intake of nandrolone pills."

Ljungqvist added: "This appears to confirm that he has been ingesting a banned substance over a period of time."

Nutritionist Victor Conte from the Balco laboratory in San Francisco, who appeared at Hunter's press conference, claimed the athlete took the same supplement used by sprinters Linford Christie and Merlene Ottey, both of whom have tested positive for nandrolone.

But under IAAF and IOC rules an athlete is responsible for whatever substance is found in his body, regardless of how it got there.

Pound said: "He's been around long enough to know better."

Excuse

Rogge added: "It's the usual excuse. Even if he would have been positive with food supplements, it is his responsibility to take legal products.

"It doesn't change anything. He's positive, full stop. He has to be disqualified and banned."

Hunter's agent Charles Wells declined to respond to the IOC's attacks, saying: "I have no comment on that. We're moving on."

Such a high level can only indicate an injection or intake of nandrolone pills

  IAAF's Arne Ljunqvist

The Hunter case only came to light after media leaks, leading to renewed charges that the United States has a history of suppressing drug cases and failing to tackle doping while lecturing the rest of the world.

"As long as you are in a state of denial, you can't move forward toward a resolution," said Pound, a Canadian.

"If you deny, deny, deny, it's very hard to move forward."

Surprise

Pound also expressed surprise that Hunter was kept on the US Olympic team despite the positive tests.

Ljungqvist claimed that after being notified of the positive Oslo test the IAAF told USA Track and Field to investigate and report back with an explanation but that the reply was "unacceptable".

Craig Masback, executive director of USATF, said: "We followed every rule of ours, of the USOC, of the IOC and the IAAF at every stage with respect to all of our athletes.

"There was never a chance that any athlete who tested positive for any substance relevant to competing in the Games was ever going to compete in the Games."