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"The Hungarian hammer thrower who was stripped of his gold medal after refusing to take a follow-up drug test at the Athens Olympics said Tuesday he still considers himself the champion and vowed to keep his medal.
Adrian Annus also reiterated his decision to retire rather than deal with what he called a campaign to manipulate test results against him.
"Hammer throwing was my life and this wasn't the way I planned to bid farewell to the sport," Annus told the state-run news wire MTI. "I only want my family and I to be left alone.""
Read more at Annus won't return Olympic hammer gold
"Olympic men's hammer champion Adrian Annus has been stripped of his gold medal after failing to take a drugs test, the International Olympic Committee said Sunday.
The Hungarian failed to meet an IOC deadline Friday to submit a urine sample or lose the gold.
The IOC's disciplinary commission opened its hearing on the final day of the Games, exactly one week after Annus won the gold.
Annus, who returned to Hungary and announced his retirement from sport after winning his medal, provided a negative dope test after the competition."
Read more at Hammer Gold Medallist Annus Loses Medal
"Colombian cyclist Maria Luisa Calle Williams has been stripped of her bronze medal after testing positive for a banned stimulant, the International Olympic Committee said on Sunday. Calle Williams tested positive for the substance heptaminol, the IOC said.
She was third in the women's points race in the velodrome on Wednesday, giving Colombia its first medal of any colour in the short history of women's Olympic track cycling."
Read more at Colombian cyclist stripped of medal
This is a summary article of all of the doping cases at the Athens Olympics....
"Greek weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis was the first athlete in Athens stripped of a medal because of a doping offense. Sampanis lost his bronze from the 62-kilogram class.
-- Russian shot putter Irina Korzhanenko tested positive for steroids after she won the gold and was stripped of her medal.
-- Hungary's Robert Fazekas lost his gold medal in discus for allegedly tampering with a doping test.
-- Hungarian weightlifter Ferenc Gyurkovics was stripped of his silver medal and kicked out of the Olympics for using the steroid oxandrolone.
-- Ukrainian rower Olena Olefirenko tested positive for a banned stimulant, costing her four-woman crew the bronze medal in lightweight sculls.
-- Hungary's Adrian Annus was stripped of his gold medal in hammer throw Sunday for failing to take a follow-up drug test demanded by the IOC.
-- Weightlifter Zoltan Kovacs of Hungary, who finished last in the 105-kilogram class, was banished from the games for failing to provide a urine sample.
-- Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou pulled out of the games while the IOC was investigating their missed doping tests."
Read more at Doping cases at the Athens Games
"Two more Olympic athletes have been expelled from the 2004 Games because of doping. The International Olympic Committee says Puerto Rican wrestler Mabel Fonseca and Hungarian weightlifter Ferenc Gyurkovics both tested positive for banned steroids.
Gyurkovics will be stripped of his silver medal in the 105 kilogram class because of the failed drug test. Fonseca finished fifth in the women's 55 kilogram category. In addition to being expelled from the 2004 Games, both athletes face a possible two-year ban each from their international federations."
Read more at 2 More Olympic Athletes Expelled from Games on Doping Charges
"Anti-doping authorities were trying to track down Olympic champion Adrian Annus on Friday amid suspicions the Hungarian may have duped drug-testers after winning a gold medal in the hammer throw. Annus, who announced his retirement from the sport on Friday, left Greece immediately after striking gold in the hammer on Sunday. Mandatory drug tests carried out on the athlete after the event were negative. But following the controversy over Hungary's discus champion Robert Fazekas - who was stripped of his Olympic gold medal for failing to provide a urine sample - questions have now been raised over his friend Annus. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge confirmed to AFP that the athlete was being sought by drug-testers. "
Read more at Hunt is on for Olympic hammer champ Annus
"Greek sprinter Kostas Kenteris was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support in his absence at Olympic Stadium. Thousands of fans chanted his name Thursday night at the 200-meter sprint, an event Kenteris pulled out of after missing a drug test. "When I heard all these people - the thousands of people - shout my name, it was the most beautiful thing that I have heard in recent years," Kenteris told the TV Mytilini channel."
Read more at AP Wire | 08/27/2004 | Kenteris Says He Did Nothing Wrong
" It was just a rumor, and as with most rumors, no one knew how or where it started. It didn't matter. It was hot, a big-time doping rumor, so it kept spreading, proliferating in a climate ripe for this kind of thing. First it was a male sprinter, then a female sprinter; it was a medalist, no, not a medalist; an American, no, not an American. It lasted about two days, this rumor, but it's the kind of thing that has permeated these Games. With three days of competition remaining, the Athens Olympics have caught more athletes doping -- 16 -- than any previous Olympics, and there have been four medals stripped, two gold."
Read more at Rumors running rampant as more athletes get caught
Russian athlete fails test A Russian 400m runner has been thrown out of the Olympics after failing a drugs test. Anton Galkin is the 18th athlete to be expelled from the Games for alleged doping offences - a new record. Galkin tested positive for stanozolol after finishing fourth in his semi-final last Saturday.
Read more at Russian athlete fails test
"Russia's Irina Korzhanenko, who won the Olympic Games shot put before being stripped of her gold after failing a drugs test, insisted on Wednesday that she would not give back her medal.
"It's so sweet to crucify the Olympic champion to prove that the war against doping is going on," she told the Izvestia newspaper.
"I don't believe either the results of the Greek laboratory or the activity of (anti-doping agency) Wada.
"I will not return my gold medal. I won it and I'm Olympic champion. I'm completely sure I did not use any doping.""
Read more at Shot putter won't return medal
"A Hungarian weightlifter was under investigation Wednesday for failing to provide a urine sample after his competition, a spokesman for the country's Olympic committee said.
Zoltan Kovacs, who finished at the bottom Tuesday in the 105kg weightlifting, testified before the IOC disciplinary committee, according to Hungarian team spokesman Dezso Vad. A final decision on his case was expected Thursday.
"He said he made a mistake," Vad said. "He was very sorry, and that's all."
The weightlifter claimed he left the venue after his competition and learned a urine sample was needed only when he arrived at the athletes' village, Vad said. Kovacs said he went to the testing center three times, but could find no one willing to help him, the spokesman added."
Read more at Hungarian Weightlifter Under Investigation
"Prosecutors seized the hospital records on Wednesday of two disgraced sprinters who withdrew from the Olympics after missing a doping test and crashing on a motorcycle.
Prosecutors Spyros Mouzakitis and Athina Theodopoupou visited Athens' KAT trauma hospital and left with files containing the hospitalisation records of Kostas Kenteris, the 200-metre gold medalist in 2000, and Katerina Thanou, who took silver in the 100 metres in Sydney, a source in the Athens prosecutors office said.
The two athletes crashed on a motorcycle and were hospitalised a few hours after they could not be found at the Olympic Village for a drug test."
Read more at Athletes' medical files seized
"Hungarian Olympic discus champion Robert Fazekas will lose his gold medal and be expelled from the Games after being caught trying to tamper with a urine sample, an International Olympic Committee source said Tuesday.
The source also said Belarussian high jumper Aleksey Lesnichiy, who was last in the qualifying round, had tested positive for the anabolic agent clenbuterol.
Fazekas was spotted by officials trying to tamper with his sample after Monday's final.
Lithuanian Virgilijus Alekna will now be awarded the gold, Zoltan Kovago (Hungary) and Aleksander Tammert (Estonia) the bronze.
Hungarian Olympic Committee spokesman Dezso Vad said he was unaware of the IOC decision.
"We have heard that he could not give enough urine and he was there (at the doping control) until 0300 in the morning and he just could not give enough. That's the only thing we know and that the IOC was meeting to discuss this," he said.
"We have not received any official notification.""
Read more at Olympic Discus Champion Thrown Out of Games
"A search of a warehouse used by the coach at the center of a doping scandal involving the country’s star sprinters uncovered small amounts of anabolic steroids, Greece’s National Organization of Medicines said Monday.
The search coach Christos Tsekos’ facilities last week was part of an investigation into whether 2000 Olympic medalists Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou tried to avoid a doping test on the eve of the Athens Games by staging a motorcycle accident.
A prosecutor and two inspectors from the agency, the Greek equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, confiscated 641 boxes of food supplements and found that more than 1,000 of the supplements listed ephedrine as the main ingredient."
Read more at Anabolic steroids found in Greek coach’s warehouse
"He swore on his children -- his "two little angels" -- that he's clean.
In Greek terms, there's no more powerful oath. This is the Olympics, though, and the real authority rests with the anti-doping bloodhounds.
Greece's top two sprinters bowed out of the games last week rather than face them. On Sunday, a sobbing and pleading Leonidas Sampanis returned his bronze weightlifting medal after tests showed twice the acceptable amount of testosterone.
"I swear to God. I swear on my children, my two little angels, that I never took anything," he said on national television. "I want you all to stand by me."
Sampanis was the first athlete at the Athens Games to lose a medal because of doping results. It took the coaxing of a teammate to persuade Sampanis to hand back the medal -- which carries the image of the winged Greek goddess Nike, or Victory.
Losing that medal took Greece's tally down to six. Without sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou to rely on, hopes of surpassing the 13 medals won by Greeks in Sydney four years ago seemed unlikely."
Read more at Doping scandals spoiling party for hosts
"The coach of new Olympic 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin has admitted he was the man who sent a syringe of the designer steroid THG (tetrahydrogestrinone) to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
The receipt of the syringe from an unknown source in June last year gave drug testers their first hint of the existence of the new substance and kicked off an ongoing international doping scandal.
"I did it. As a coach it seemed the right thing to do at the time and it still does," Trevor Graham told Reuters after Gatlin won the sprint gold in Athens this morning.
"Would I do it again? Yes.""
Read more at I was THG whistleblower, admits Gatlin coach
"Women's shot put gold medallist Irina Korzhaenko of Russia has failed a drugs test, according to reports.
"I think it was steroids, but that will be announced later," Arne Ljungqvist, president of the IOC's medical commission, told the AFP news agency.
"It's very sad and it tarnishes what was intended to be a very symbolic event," he added.
Russian Olympic team spokesman Gennady Shvets would not confirm the reports but said there was a "problem".
"We are looking into it at the moment," he said.
The shot put competition was held at Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympics, and was meant to be a showpiece of the Games."
Read more at Korzhanenko fails dope test
"Greece has been rocked by the threat of being stripped of an Athens Games medal and the host nation's team manager has offered to quit, as doping overshadows Michael Phelps' drive to be Olympic swimming's top medal winner.
Weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis, a national hero days ago when he won his country's first medal at the Games, became the latest Greek athlete to be hit by drug woes that have plagued the Olympics throughout their first week.
"I am stunned. I am going mad. We do not, and I stress this, do not, give our athletes testosterone," Sampanis's coach Christos Iakovou said on Friday after confirming the athlete had tested positive for a banned substance.
If Sampanis' second sample tests positive he will be stripped of his bronze medal and expelled from the Games.
Hours later Greek team manager Yiannis Papadoyiannakis offered to resign, but his bosses quickly tried to smooth over the new embarrassment in a saga that the Greek government has warned threatens the image of the birthplace of the Olympics."
Read more at Greek drugs drama dominates
News has just broken in New Zealand that a Kiwi Cyclist has just withdrawn from the Olympics because he took a banned substance months ago and traces are still showing up in his system.
News is sketchy but we'll update this with more details as they come to hand.
Also in related doping news a Greek Weightlifter is likely to have his bronze medal taken from him after being tested for drugs after competition.
"A prosecutor looking into the suspicious motorcycle accident involving Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou wants to take a closer look at the injuries sustained by the athletes, a judicial source said Thursday.
Prosecutor Haralambos Lakafosis, overseeing the investigation into the accident, wants to question some of the doctors at Athens' KAT hospital, a senior source in the Athens prosecutor's office told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The medical condition of the two athletes is considered a key part of the investigation into the accident and could answer allegations that it may not have taken place or was staged."
Read more at Prosecutors to check sprinters' injuries
"Initial investigations have revealed that Greek sprinters Kostadinos Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou faked a motorcycle accident after missing a drugs test, a high-ranking legal source said.
Kenteris, the Olympic 200 metres champion from the 2000 Sydney Olympics (news - web sites), and Thanou, a women's 100m silver medallist in those Games, were said to have suffered minor injuries in the mysterious accident which occurred late last Thursday after they had failed to appear for a doping test at the Olympic village.
Greek heroes Kenteris and Thanou withdrew from the games on Wednesday after appearing before an International Olympic Committee (news - web sites) disciplinary hearing.
The probe by a Greek prosecutor had shown that either the accident did not take place at all, or that the athletes deliberately crashed the bike in order to give themselves injuries, the source, a high-ranking official, added."
Read more at Greek sprinters' motorbike accident faked: legal source
"Five weightlifters were suspended Thursday for flunking drug tests they took before the Olympics, including two who were pulled out just before walking to the lifting stand.
The International Weightlifting Federation said the suspended lifters were Wafa Ammouri of Morocco (website - news) , Zoltan Kecskes of Hungary, Viktor Chislean of Moldova, Pratima Kumari Na of India and Sule Sahbaz of Turkey - raising to 20 the number of world-class weightlifters suspended this year."
Read more at IWF Suspends Five More Weightlifters
"When Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal and evicted from the Seoul Olympics in 1988, there was a sense that this was a lucky strike for the movement against drugs in sport. His had been a random test, and he and his handlers had been ham-fisted in the management of his regime.
The withdrawal yesterday of Kostas Kederis and Katerina Thanou from the 2004 Games in their homeland is the biggest Olympics drugs story since, but this time it is different. The only honourable way out now is to take the fifth amendment and the first bus home.
Against a background of the much increased power and stringency of the World Anti-Doping Authority, ground-breaking developments in drug testing and the United States' belated but welcome campaign to toughen up on drugs, it seems that cheating is the exception. Suspicions will not be aroused if, as expected, few or no world records are set at these Games."
Read more at Greece's loss a win for all drug-free competitors
"Greece's two top sprinters pulled out of the Athens Games on Wednesday and apologized over a drugs drama that besmirched the spiritual homeland of the Olympics.
It was the biggest drugs scandal to hit the Olympic movement since 100 meter gold medallist Ben Johnsons's ignominious exit from the Seoul Games in 1988 over a positive test for steroids.
Greek Olympic 200 meters champion Costas Kenteris, a national hero dubbed "Greece Lightning," said he was withdrawing "out of a sense of responsibility."
"I am adamant, I was never notified to go to the Olympic Village to take the test."
"Over the last years, I have gone through over 30 tests with no problems," he added, referring to his missed eve-of-Games test last Thursday."
Read more at Greek Sprinters Pull Out of Games
Also read about this story at Kenteris quits Olympics
"U.S. sprinter Torri Edwards was knocked out of the Olympics for good Tuesday when an arbitration panel upheld her two-year drug suspension.
Edwards had been considered a medal contender in the 100 and 200 meters at the Athens Games. She inherited the world championship in the 100 when Kelli White forfeited that crown because of drug use.
Edwards tested positive for the banned stimulant nikethamide at a meet in Martinique on April 24, but blamed the result on a glucose supplement she took because she wasn't feeling well. She said her physician bought the glucose at a store on the Caribbean island, and that she was unaware it contained the banned substance."
Read more at Edwards out of Games, suspension upheld
"American sprinter Lauryn Williams said on Monday she would have no problem competing on the same team as Marion Jones in the Olympic 4x100 meters relay.
Even if Jones, who is under scrutiny by U.S. anti-doping officials, were eventually charged with an offence and the U.S. runners were stripped of any relay medal they might win, "it's fine with me" that Jones runs, Williams told a news conference.
"The coaches will make the best decision and as long as they feel they have made the best decision and that's who they have on the relay when it's time to run, I'm going to run and I am going to be very proud," Williams said."
Read more at Williams Has No Problem Running with Jones
"Lawyers representing Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou have succeeded in postponing until Wednesday the IOC disciplinary hearing into their missed drugs tests.
It is the second such delay and means the case will continue to cast its shadow over the Games for at least the next 48 hours, rather than there being a line drawn under the episode today.
The International Olympic Committee had initially been hoping to deal with the issue last Friday."
Read more at Accused Greeks granted hearing delay
"Drug testers tried unsuccessfully for two days to track down Greek sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou in Chicago just before the Athens Olympics opened on August 13, IAAF president Lamine Diack has said.
"They weren't in Chicago, that's why the IOC (International Olympic Committee) tried to test them in the village," Diack, the head of the International Association of Athletics Federation, said on Sunday.
The pair have been suspended from the Games by the Greek Olympic Committee pending an IOC hearing on Monday."
Read more at Testers failed to find Greek sprinters
"Star sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou were suspended Saturday from the Greek Olympic team for missing drug tests, but their fate was left in the hands of the International Olympic Committee (news - web sites).
The Greek committee's seven-member board removed the athletes pending a final decision by the IOC (news - web sites) at a hearing Monday. The sprinters' coach, Christos Tsekos, was also suspended.
The case has shamed Greece and overshadowed the opening of what was supposed to be a triumphant showcase of national pride and achievement at the Athens Games.
Making the situation worse, police are now investigating a suspicious motorcycle accident that put the two in the hospital Thursday night just hours after drug testers failed to find them in the Olympic Village. The runners sustained cuts and bruises, and were to be released Monday."
Read more at Greeks Suspend Star Sprinters, Coach
"Dogged by charges of skipping a drug test, Greece's top sprinter had been a candidate to run with the torch in the final moments of the opening ceremony at the Athens Games but was passed over, local organizers said.
Organizers ended days of speculation Saturday by acknowledging that Kostas Kenteris was on a list of 12 athletes who were candidates to participate in the last part of the relay, which concluded at the main stadium during Friday's ceremony. Organizers wouldn't say why Kenteris did not get the honor.
Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, a Greek windsurfing champion from the Atlanta Games, ultimately lit the cauldron. Six athletes ran with the torch in the stadium, though organizers had originally said there would be seven torchbearers."
Read more at
Greek sprinter Kenteris, dogged by charges of skipping drug test, was candidate to light cauldron
"World 100 meters champion Torri Edwards will have her appeal against a two-year doping ban heard by a Court of Arbitration for Sport appeal panel Monday.
If the CAS clears Edwards, the American will be eligible to compete in the Athens Olympics, which opened Friday night.
"The hearing will be Monday evening, the composition of the panel will be announced later," CAS secretary-general Matthieu Reeb told Reuters Saturday.
Edwards, who inherited the title when compatriot Kelli White admitted taking a variety of banned drugs, tested positive for the stimulant nikethamide at a meeting in Martinique last April.
She was scheduled to run in the 100 and 200 meters once the Olympic athletics program opens next Friday and would probably have been included in the 4x100 relay team."
Read more at Torri Edwards Doping Appeal Scheduled for Monday
"Greek sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou will be withdrawn from the Olympic Games, a source close to the Greek team says.
The cases of Kenteris, the Olympic 200 metres champion, and Thanou, runner-up in the Sydney Games 100 metres, were being discussed at a meeting of the Greek Olympic Committee.
The two are due to attend an International Olympic Committee disciplinary hearing on Monday to explain why they missed a drugs test this week in Athens."
Read more at Greek sprinters withdrawn from Games
"Greece's biggest star might drop out of the Athens Games after missing a drug test, shaming the host nation as it opened its first Olympics in more than a century. Greece's Olympic Committee will meet Saturday to discuss the bizarre case of sprinter Kostas Kenteris, the 200-meter Olympic champion who is accused of dodging a drug test and was later hospitalized after a motorcycle crash.
A source within the committee, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that one topic at the meeting will be whether Kenteris should withdraw from the games.
Even if he drops out, the International Olympic Committee probably will proceed with its doping case against him. A hearing was set for Monday.
Kenteris and fellow Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou were in a motorcycle wreck Thursday night just hours after drug testers failed to find them in the Olympic village."
Read more at Greece's top athlete may drop out of Games
"Ukrainian light-welterweight Ihor Pashchuk was disqualified from the Olympic boxing competition after failing a medical examination.
Organisers said Pashchuk, who reached the final of this year’s European championship, had not passed the test conducted yesterday before the weigh-in.
The 20-year-old Pashchuk failed to weigh in for this year’s European championship final but his surprise win over France’s Willy Blain in the semi-finals was enough to earn him qualification for the Athens Games.
His disqualification means there are 283 boxers left in the competition before the draw later on Friday, instead of the initial 286."
Read more at Ukrainian star fails dope test
"The International Olympic Committee (IOC) spared Greece major embarrassment on the opening day of the Athens Games on Friday by granting its two top sprinters more time to explain why they missed a dope test.
A 72-hour extension for Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, after they failed to show up for a Friday disciplinary commission drugs tribunal, was perhaps only a postponement of what could still turn into a national scandal.
The sprinters are in hospital after being injured in a mystery overnight motorcycle accident. Both were said to be stable and not seriously hurt but have been ordered to stay in medical care for at least two more days.
An IOC statement said: "In order to ensure a fair process and give due consideration to the athletes the disciplinary commission has decided to postpone the hearing until Monday, August 16."
After waiting in vain for the pair to leave hospital for the hearing, IOC drugs-panel member Sergei Bubka, a former Olympic pole vault champion, said: "It was a doctor’s decision. It wasn’t really our decision.""
Read more at IOC delay averts opening day shame for Greece
"Home heroes Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou will attempt to save their careers in Athens today – but the damage to the Olympics their country is so proud to host has already been done.
If current 200metres Olympic champion Kenteris and former world indoor champion Thanou cannot come up with a plausible excuse for failing to take a random test in the Athletes’ Village yesterday, they will be expelled from the Games in disgrace and serve an automatic two-year ban.
Wild rumours circulating round the Greek capital as the stunned host nation attempted to come to terms with the most devastating blow to Olympic credibility since Ben Johnson tested positive in 1988 included that Kenteris and Thanou were simply not told about the test.
It later emerged that the pair had been involved in a road traffic accident shortly after they had missed the drugs test."
Read more at Early Setback for Athens Games.
"The president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Dick Pound confirmed that a test to detect human growth hormone (HGH) was being used at the Athens Olympics.
"We have a test to find HGH," Pound told a media conference here on the eve of the Games.
Pound said the doping authorities were deliberately not revealing how far back the test could detect the use of growth hormone, which has to be administered over a longer period than, for example, anabolic steroids.
"The parameters of that test we are keeping secret as there is no advantage in giving anyone any help in avoiding detection. I would rather they were faced with a very unpleasant surprise," he said."
Read more at
Growth hormone test being used at Olympics.
"Earlier today the head of the world's anti doping watchdog, Dick Pound, held a press conference where he took a swipe at drugs cheats, singling out the activities of the US track and field team.
Dick Pound says there's a sleazy drug culture within US track and field circles and he blames the managers and coaches for it.
His comments come as the number of athletes being sent home from Athens after testing positive for drugs continues to grow.
He outlined the new testing regime to the media, as Olympic correspondent Fran Kelly now reports from Athens."
Read more at Pound blames sleazy drug culture on US coaches.
"As the countdown continues to the Athens Olympics, a new Australian study by a team ofSouthern Cross University (SCU) scientists has revealed serious new side effects of performance enhancing drugs.
The SCU study, led by Dr Robert Weatherby, has revealed that the use of anabolic steroids may significantly increase susceptibility to viral infections and cancers and raises questions about the dangers of long-term use of the banned substances.
The study, completed over six weeks under strict ethical and health controls, was carried out in conjunction with Mentorn, Channel 4 (UK) and New Scientist. The experiment formed part of the documentary “High Performance”, which screens on Foxtel tonight (Wednesday, August 11)."
Read more at Serious new side effects of performance enhancing drugs
"US sprinter Torri Edwards, who was favored to win two medals here, was banned for two years yesterday by the US Anti-Doping Agency for using a banned stimulant in an April meet in Martinique.
Unless the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturns the ban on appeal, two-time champion Gail Devers will take Edwards's place in the 100 meters andLaShaunta'e Moore would step up in the 200. Had Devers decided to focus on the hurdles, defending champion Marion Jones would have taken the vacant spot in the 100, but Devers said Tuesday that she would run both events if Edwards were suspended. A ruling on the case is expected before track and field events begin next week.
Edwards tested positive for the banned stimulant nikethamide. She said she took it inadvertently, saying she did not know it was in glucose pills that had been bought for her on the island."
Read more at Edwards banned two years.
"The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency again criticized U.S. track officials Thursday over recent drug use by American athletes, and warned that Marion Jones will be in a "deep hole" if she's lying about not using banned substances.
While acknowledging that Jones has never been charged with a doping offense, WADA chief Dick Pound pointed out it might be possible to strip an athlete of Olympic medals up to eight years later. That means Jones' five medals from the 2000 Sydney Games could be at risk if she is found guilty of using performance-enhancing substances.
Jones is under investigation by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency but has not been charged."
Read more at WADA chief chides U.S. track officials.
"The BALCO investigation and subsequent tarnish has done what years of the disproportioned priorities of the Iron Curtain couldn't -- demerit the Olympic ideal of stronger, faster, higher to the point where skepticism runs unabated.
Much to the vindictive glee of the rest of the world, the BALCO scandal has knocked America off the high moral perch it boisterously touted at every turn.
We all knew that the former East German swimmers turned their bodies into governmental genetic experiments and that the former Soviet Union grossly diverted its resources to train its "military" people to dominate the United States in every athletic endeavor imaginable.
But it didn't matter to us.
We'd beat them anyway.
Each victory served as another validation for winning the right way."
Read more at BALCO taints U.S. Olympians .
"Brenda Taylor is nobody's fool. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a degree in cognitive neuroscience and is headed for law school when her track career ends.
So when the 400-meter hurdler was offered a performance-enhancing drug at the 2003 U.S. championships, she says she just said no.
"They offered me modafinil before the USAs last year, and I think I'm the only person that didn't take it," Taylor said.
Modafinil is the banned stimulant that resulted in sprinter Kelli White's positive drug test at last year's world championships in Paris. White, who won the 100 and 200 at the worlds, later accepted a two-year ban from the sport and admitted using undetectable steroids and the endurance-enhancing drug EPO.
Taylor just smiled and wouldn't answer when asked who offered her the drug, and she didn't say who the others were who took it. But in an interview at the U.S. pre-Olympic training camp she emphasized that she supports the hard line being taken against performance-enhancing drugs in track and field."
Read more at U.S. Hurdler Says She Turned Down Drug
"Faster, higher, stronger...cheater? U.S. athletics has introduced a fourth wheel into the Olympic motto, one that could force the powerhouse nation into its weakest medal haul in recent years in Athens. In just one year, a grand total of 18 athletes have been involved in doping scandals and the numbers are still growing.
It all started one year ago with leaked information on a previously undetectable steroid and the...shock hit the fan.
One by one, major stars from sprinter Kelli White to middle distance runner Regina Jacobs began dropping like flies as the clean up of U.S. athletics finally began.
After 25 years of rumours and cover-ups, the nation that pointed fingers quicker and shouted accusations louder than the others is now the one under the most serious scrutiny.
No, the suspicion goes way back beyond the discovery of THG.
Alarms roared last spring when news leaked that nine times Olympic gold medallist Carl Lewis had failed a drugs test in 1988, the year a "disgraced" Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal at the Seoul Games."
Read more at U.S. athletics coming clean
"Ian Thorpe has called for more emphasis on out-of-competition testing to take the fight to the drug-cheaters in sport.
The Australian swimming superstar raised the hackles of world governing body FINA last month when he said it would be naive to believe swimming would be clean of drugs at the Athens Games.
FINA hit back, saying that Thorpe's attitude was unacceptable because he was ac