Six Greek Athletes Fail Drug Tests Before Meet

A major controversy hit the home of the Olympic movement Saturday after doping tests on six Greek athletes proved positive on the eve of the European indoor track and field championships.

The tests were carried out at the University of Athens Feb. 27 on the instructions of SEGAS, the Greek Athletics Federation, to avoid any possible embarrassment at the indoor championships.

But the results of the tests have caused an uproar. The positive samples are being sent to a Rome laboratory under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee. If those tests prove positive again, the six athletes, none of them internationally known, will be banned from competition for 18 months.

The six were sprinter Sotiros Tesas, hurdlers Georgios Tsiandas and Elizabeth Pandazi, triple jumper Dimitrios Mihas, shotputter Dimitrios Koutsoukis and high jumper Dimitrios Kattis.

Sir Arthur Gold, the British president of the European Athletic Assn. said: “It is a sad event in our sport, but I congratulate SEGAS for being vigilant and courageous in the action they have taken.”

Officials from 30 NCAA Division I-A schools, saying they wanted to restore a balance between sports and academics, recommended that freshmen be declared ineligible for varsity football and basketball.

Nearly a third of the 105 Division I schools were represented at the two-day closed door gathering at Miami, including such major athletic powers as Georgia, North Carolina, Penn State, Nebraska, Indiana, Florida State, Maryland, Louisiana State, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Kentucky, Alabama, UCLA, Washington State, Texas Tech and Texas A&M.;

The World Boxing Assn. junior flyweight title fight between champion Francisco Quiroz of the Dominican Republic and Joey Olivo was postponed by the Venezuelan boxing commissioner hours before the match was scheduled to begin in Maracaibo.

Commissioner Alberto Sarmiento said the fight was suspended after Venezuelan promoter Rafito Cedeno failed to deposit $65,000 before a Friday deadline.

After Clemson University President Bill Atchley resigned Friday, Athletic Director Bill McLellan asked to be reassigned in the wake of a drug scandal in the school’s athletic department.

Atchley’s decision to step down came three days before a grand jury is scheduled to hear results of an investigation into the dispensing of prescription drugs to Clemson athletes.

ESPN and the College Football Assn. announced a two-year agreement to televise 17 games during each of the next two seasons, most on Saturday evenings. A source outside ESPN said the network will pay $24 million for the package. ESPN paid $9.3 million to televise 15 CFA games in 1984.

The CFA is composed of four conferences--the Big Eight, Southeastern, Southwest and Western Athletic--and 16 major independents.

Mary Lou Retton, eager to prove that a seven-month layoff and seven-figure contract had not changed a thing, was the top woman qualifier in the opening round of the American Cup gymnastics meet at Indianapolis.