US under fire for two nandrolone cases

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Sydney: US athletics chiefs handled two positive tests for nandrolone, the steroid at the centre of the C J Hunter scandal, in the last two years but handed out no sanctions, a leading anti-doping chief revealed on Sunday.

Olympic and athletics chief Arne Ljungqvist, who is putting pressure on US Track and Field chiefs to explain 10 suspicious cases, said it was worrying that American authorities had taken the decisions to exonerate without informing world chiefs.

Nandrolone has been at the centre of several drug scandals in recent years involving high-profile athletes such as former Olympic champions Linford Christie and Dieter Baumann where the world governing body overruled national federation decisions.

"It is an uncomfortable feeling. I found out that two of the 10 unexplained names we have are excused nandrolone cases. That is not acceptable,"

Ljungqvist said, "They have been dealt with by the U.S. and been exonerated quite some time ago."

Hunter, husband of triple Olympic gold medallist Marion Jones, has tested positive four times this year for the steroid. Some athletes have blamed the presence of the substance in their bodies on food supplements.

In the majority of cases the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) has disagreed with the exoneration of athletes by national bodies and put the cases to arbitration.

It is unable to do the same with the US because American officials have refused to pass on information for reasons of confidentiality. But Ljungqvist said the IAAF had received the positive test results from a top laboratory in Indianapolis.

List

The IAAF medical chief read from a list of the 10 outstanding US cases for which he has none of the athletes' identities.

Four of the positive tests were for stimulants, three were for high levels of testosterone and three were for nandrolone. One of the three nandrolone cases was still under investigation, he said.

The two nandrolone cases where the US authorities decided to impose no sanction were from tests carried out in June 1999 and January this year, he said. The other cases dated back to April 1999.

USA Track and Field chief executive Craig Masback has been under increasing pressure over the past week to release the names of 15 track and field athletes who the IAAF says have tested positive and not been identified.

Ljungqvist said the names of five athletes involved in cases had been supplied.

But he said, "On 10 positive samples the names are not yet there. We do have question marks here. All 10 are a concern to us. They (the US authorities) will have to change. They will change, I'm sure."



(c) Reuters Limited.