NEWS
MATCH REPORTS
DIARY
OTHER SPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
PEOPLE
ARCHIVES

American Olympians suspended for drug abuse

World record-holding shot putter Randy Barnes, a gold medallist at Atlanta in 1996, and Olympic '96 sprint bronze medallist Dennis Mitchell, have been suspended for drug use, after both failed out-of-competition random tests under the aegis of the International Amateur Athletic Federation.

Ironically, the suspensions come at a time when there is a move within the International Olympic Committee, spearheaded by president Juan Antonia Samaranch, to remove some drugs from the list of banned substances.

Even more ironically, Mitchell is president of the US track and field body's athletes advisory committee, which has a hardline stance against drug use.

While the IAAF is yet to officially announce the suspensions and the duration of the punishment, the action becomes the most high profile punitive measure taken since Ben Johnson in 1988 and Butch Reynolds in 1990.

The US track and field association, however, reacted with outrage to the ban, said that both athletes deserve a hearing, and refused to enforce it.

With the first samples testing positive, the IAAF will now wait for the results of a second sample before deciding on the severity of the punishment. In the case of Barnes, it could be a life ban, since he had, way back in 1991, been suspended for two years following detection of a banned stereoid.

More crucially from an American point of view, if Mitchell is banned, the US relay team that cracked the world 4X400 metre record at the Goodwill Games earlier last week could be disqualified, and the record annulled.

Mitchell ran the second leg in that record-breaking relay anchored by Michael Johnson.

The controversy comes close on the heels of the Tour de France, which was overshadowed by allegations of systematic drug abuse.

IAAF chief Primo Nebiolo said that it was high time the problem was solved once for all, after years of indecision, and has called for an international meeting to define and further codify drug laws.

The fact that more and more athletes are now challenging drug suspensions in courts is another reason for the impending meeting.

Attempts to crack down harder of substance abuse, however, received a setback of sorts when, this Sunday, Samaranch told a Spanish newspaper that he saw nothing wrong with an athlete taking a performance-enhancing drug, provided said drug did not damage his health.

Athletics bosses around the world have slammed Samaranch's suggestion, saying that this left the entire question on too subjective a plane.

For instance, it gives the option to any athlete to take drugs, and then claim that his health was not being affected.