Published on: Thursday, January 01, 2004 |
COLORADO SPRINGS (Colorado): Seven leading US athletes, including American sprint champion Kelli White, failed drug tests this summer, the United States Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday.
White tested positive for the banned substance Modafinil at the June United States Track and Field Championships in Stanford, California, the USOC revealed.
Also testing positive for Modafinil at the nationals were former US champion sprinter Chryste Gaines; four-time national champion hurdler Sandra Glover; reigning US hurdles champion Eric Thomas and hammer thrower John McEwen.
Hurdler Chris Phillips tested positive for Modafinil at the 2003 Paris World Championships in August, the USOC said in a news release.
Cyclist Adham Sbeih tested positive for the hormone EPO at the US cycling championships in August.
McEwen also tested positive for the new designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG. The seven Americans all plan to appeal, the USOC said.
Rich Wanninger, spokesman for the US Anti-Doping Agency, said Tuesdays announcement was made after samples taken from the athletes went through a series of confirmation tests and a 30-day review.
Wanninger downplayed the significance of Tuesdays announcement but others have said the number of positive tests this summer is unprecedented for American athletes. It is not our announcement, said Wanninger.
White, the reigning world and US champion in both the 100 and 200 metres, is the most prominent name to fail the drug tests. The USOC said she also tested positive for Modafinil at the worlds.
The 26-year-old White ran a personal best time of 10.85secs to capture the world 100m title. She also won 100m races in Brussells, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon in 2003.
White is one of 40 athletes who has been subpoenaed to testify into a federal government probe of a San Francisco-area lab, BALCO, that has been linked to THG.
White could lose her two gold medals and 120,000 dollars in prize money from the world titles after testing positive for Modafinil, a stimulant used to treat narcolepsy, Whites doctor Brian Goldman is BALCOs former medical director.
Gaines won the US 100m championship in 2001 but is running faster now than she ever has.
She set a personal best of 10.86secs in the 100m at the World Athletics Finals in Monaco in 2003. The 33-year-old Gaines also ran a 10.88 this year in Brussells.
Glover, 34, is a four-time US 400m hurdle champion and won the silver medal at the worlds in Paris this year.
The 31-year-old Phillips finished fourth at the nationals this year and fifth at the worlds in the 110-metre hurdles.
Thomas is the reigning US champion in the 400m hurdles and won silver medals at the Pan American Games in 2003 and 1999.
McEwen, 29, placed second at the 2003 US championships in Stanford in the hammer throw with a toss of 72.96 metres. -AFP
