33 US athletes flunked doping tests last year

John Mehaffey

Thirty-three American track and field athletes tested positive for banned drugs last year, according to U.S. Olympic Committee figures released on Saturday.

Five of the cases involved anabolic (steroid) agents, 26 were for stimulants and two were for other substances.

The figures show 923 tests were conducted, 769 in competition and 154 out of competition.

In all sports 4,962 tests were conducted with 22 positives for anabolic agents.

There is no record in the figures of which athletes were involved or what action was taken by the individual federations.

USA Track and Field chief executive Craig Masback has been under increasing pressure over the past week to release the names of 15 track and field athletes who the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) says have tested positive and not been identified.

International Olympic Committee vice-president Dick Pound has accused the United States of being in a state of denial over its drugs problem and White House drugs chief General Barry McCaffrey urged Masback this week to release the names immediately.

Masback told reporters last Wednesday he would not release the names until all the correct procedures had been followed but, in response to the pressure, announced on Friday he would set up an independent commission to review USA Track and Field's record on doping cases.

MASBACK RESENTS CRITICISM

At a news conference on Saturday Masback said the committee would examine all cases from January 1 last year.

In reply to a questioner he said he resented the criticism.

"Yes it has got under my skin," he said. "The allegations are untrue. Our team is, dare I say, the most tested team here. We have disciplined more people than any other team.

"It's extremely unfair for the members of this team, none of whom have tested positive, to be cast under a cloud."

Masback said he had discussed his proposal to hand over all testing to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) informally with Pound on Friday evening.

He said Pound had suggested other options such as WADA doing the testing in conjunction with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Masback refused to comment on the doping case of world shot put champion C.J. Hunter, the husband of double Olympic sprint champion Marion Jones.

Hunter has tested positive four times this year for the anabolic steroid nandrolone.

Masback told reporters later he did not know how many outstanding positive cases involving U.S. athletes were still to be resolved.

He said the real issue was that the Indianapolis IOC-accredited laboratory had not given its test results to the IAAF.

He said of the outstanding cases half were for asthma medication, four had involved athletes whose second urine sample had not matched the first and half of the remaining cases were for cold medicine preparations.

Mail your comments