International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge would not speculate on any measures he may take if the USATF refuse, simply saying he would be writing to them immediately to request they comply.

"We will see what the USATF will do with our request...we will decide what to do in February," he told reporters on Friday at the IOC's Swiss headquarters.

"It is not for us to start menacing or threatening people or organisations. We will see in February what we have to do in this respect."

World 400-metre champion Young tested positive in 1999 for the steroid nandrolone but was subsequently cleared by a USATF review panel.

He went on to run in the early rounds of the 4x400-metre relay at the Sydney Olympics and the IOC is investigating whether to strip Young and the other relay members, including Michael Johnson, of their gold medals.

All the indications are that the issue will be a problem for Rogge come February.

USATF spokeswoman Jill Geer said the organisation was legally bound not to turn over the documents.

"We have done everything we can legally and otherwise," she told Reuters by telephone on Friday from USATF's annual meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina.

"The CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) ruling is binding and prevents us from sharing that information."

The CAS, in a case also involving the International Association of Athletics Federations, has ruled that USATF did not have to disclose determinations of review panels that exonerated athletes in doping cases prior to 2000.

INFORMATION REQUEST

USATF president Bill Roe said earlier this week they had no plans to turn over the documents.

"We would do so only if the athlete or his counsel were willing," Roe told Reuters. "That is the only way we could under our rules at the time," Roe said.

Rogge has repeatedly chastised USATF for refusing to release information regarding Young's case.

Roe said USATF had never received a formal request from the IOC panel investigating Young to turn over information.

"We have never been asked by the current board investigating the case to turn over documents," Roe said.

He said an earlier facsimile sent by an IOC group to the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) and forwarded to USATF had been unreadable and that USATF never received a response to its request for a retransmission.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) also says it has been refused certain additional information on the case.