A Positive Move Made by Cycling Federation

The U.S. Cycling Federation has a history of not publicly reporting positive drug test results, a policy that is being changed, said Jerry Lace, executive director of the USCF.

At the 1987 national track championships in Pennsylvania, Bobby Livingston of Atlanta tested positive for steroids after setting a one-kilometer time trial record. He was suspended for 30 days but federation officials, citing protection of an individual’s privacy, never announced the result.

At the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials in Spokane, Wash., last summer, Chuck Veylupek of Orangevale, Calif., tested positive for testosterone, a male hormone, and was suspended for 30 days. Again, it was not announced. Veylupek appealed and subsequent tests proved that he naturally produces an abnormal amount of testosterone.

Both cases were first reported in Velo News, a bicycling publication printed in Boulder, Colo.

“The Livingston case should have been announced but it wasn’t,” said Les Earnest, chairman of the USCF’s legislation committee. “The federation was too closemouthed about it. To deter drug use, they must publicize the positives. I think somebody screwed up.”

Lace said the federation did not have a policy dealing with positive tests until last October, when officials voted to take a more stringent stand against drug offenders.

F. Don Miller, formerly executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said responsibility for publicizing positive results at Olympic trials has always been the national governing body’s, although USOC doctors conduct the tests.

The cycling policy now calls for publicizing positive results as well as conducting unannounced testing. Lace said the federation is equally concerned with the use of amphetamines and steroids.

“The best deterrent now is to eliminate those offenders,” Lace said. “We’re not in the rehabilitation business.”

Lace, however, said that the federation also plans to develop an educational program to try to help persuade cyclists not to use drugs.