‘US document shows few dope case suspensions’

Sydney: A leading Australian newspaper said on Saturday it had obtained documents showing there were 207 positive drugs tests among US athletes last year but that these resulted in only 10 suspensions.

The US Olympic Commission documents revealed that 29 of the positive findings were for anabolic agents, or steroids, while the vast majority -- 158 -- were for stimulants, the 'Australian' reported on Saturday.

The remaining 20 were placed under the category of "other", which included diuretics and narcotics, the newspaper said.

US athletics authorities, under fire at the Sydney Olympics for their drug-testing procedures, appear set to hand control of all their anti-doping efforts to WADA, the new world anti-doping agency.

US Track and Field (USATF) chiefs said they had made the proposal on Thursday to WADA following a meeting on Tuesday between USATF chief Craig Masback and the agency's head, Dick Pound, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president.

At the Sydney Games, IOC medical commission chief Alexandre de Merode has accused the United States of covering up five doping cases before the 1988 Seoul Olympics and letting the athletes take part in the Games.

IOC medical commission member Arne Ljungvist has alleged that US athletics chiefs had also failed to inform track and field's world governing body of 15 suspicious doping cases over the last two years.

WADA was set up last November to carry out testing around the world after major drug scandals in the last few years.

USATF has also proposed that a special commission be set up to review its compliance with anti-doping rules and international standards in the past two years.



(c) Reuters Limited.