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Thursday, September 28
U.S. track suggests WADA handle tests
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- Under fire for allegedly suppressing
positive drug tests, USA Track & Field proposed that its entire
doping control program be handed over to an independent world body.
Craig Masback, executive director of USATF, suggested Friday
that the World Anti-Doping Agency handle all in-competition and
out-of-competition tests for American athletes and investigate any
positive cases.
Dick Pound, the IOC vice president who heads the world agency,
endorsed the idea and said it should be extended to all countries
and all sports.
"Ultimately, that's probably the best way for all this to be
played out -- that all testing, for all national and international
federations and national Olympic committees, be handled by an
independent third party," he said.
Pound said WADA's executive board would meet sometime after the
Sydney Games to decide on its formal response, but made clear he
had no objection.
"It's my view this is where we should end up," he said. "I
think it's a big step forward, especially for an American
organization."
USATF also announced it was forming a special commission to
review its drug-testing procedures and address allegations that a
number of positive cases have been covered up.
Arne Ljungqvist, the anti-doping chief of the International
Amateur Athletic Federation, said last week that USATF had withheld
information on 12 to 15 positive tests in the past two years.
Masback denied any cover-ups, insisting that USATF was bound by
American confidentiality laws and rules preventing the disclosure
of names of athletes who test positive until due process has run
its course.
Masback said no U.S. athletes competing in the Sydney Games had
failed drug tests.
He said the majority of cases still under wraps involved
substances for which athletes had medical waivers, others involved
cold-medicine products, and the rest were still being investigated.
USATF's policies came under intense scrutiny following
disclosures this week that shot put world champion C.J. Hunter,
husband of sprint star Marion Jones, had failed four drug tests in
Europe this summer. The news was confirmed only after leaks in the
media.
International Olympic Committee officials criticized the U.S.
policy and urged USATF to come clean on all test results. White
House drug policy director Barry McCaffrey also called for a full,
public accounting of the tests.
Masback met this week with Pound, chairman of the World
Anti-Doping Agency. The body was set up last year to coordinate a
global program of out-of-competition testing.
"After my meeting with Dick Pound, it was apparent to me that
in spite of our best efforts in the doping control area, Mr. Pound
and others do not have total confidence in how we have handled
doping matters," Masback said in a statement.
"USATF has been a pioneer in drug testing and has never covered
up a positive test. Our Olympic team is the most-tested group of
athletes in history. We believe that WADA control of our
anti-doping program will ensure international confidence in the
system."
In a separate letter to Pound, Masback said he was unable to
find a way to run a drug control program subject to the competing
jurisdictions of the IAAF and the U.S. Olympic Committee. He also
cited "shortcomings" of certain IOC-accredited testing labs and
the challenge of working within the confines of U.S. law.
"I propose that WADA take over USA Track & Field's entire
doping control program," Masback wrote. "WADA would administer
and conduct our in-competition and out-of-competition drug testing
programs and adjudicate all cases."
Under Masback's proposal, WADA would render a final decision to
USATF, whose only role would be to take any disciplinary action.
Until now, WADA's role has been limited to funding and
controlling out-of-competition testing. It has not conducted
in-competition testing and has had no role in prosecuting positive
cases, leaving that up to the international sports federations.
But Pound said he envisioned no problems in expanding WADA's
role, and predicted that WADA could control all testing at the next
Summer Games in Athens in 2004.
IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai also backed the USATF
proposal.
"I think it's a good idea," he said. "This would make things
more transparent and help get rid of all the accusations."
Meanwhile, USATF announced the formation of a panel to assess
the federation's compliance with anti-doping rules.
The commission will be comprised of Micki King, U.S. diving gold
medalist at the 1972 Olympics and current Assistant Athletic
Director at the University of Kentucky; Curtis H. Barnette,
Chairman Emeritus of Bethlehem Steel Corp. and a lawyer in
Washington D.C.; and Richard H. McLaren, a law school professor at
the University of Western Ontario.
McLaren, who has been a long-standing member of the Court of
Arbitration for Sport, will chair the panel. Masback also invited
Pound to appoint a WADA delegate to sit on the commission.
The review will be completed in 90 days and its findings made
public, Masback said.
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