Myricks Will Get Hearing Tuesday : Track and field: Long jumper claims he has been wrongly accused after taking flu-relief medication.

Larry Myricks, the No. 2-ranked long jumper in the world last year, will have a hearing Tuesday to determine whether he will be eligible to jump again.

Myricks, a four-time Olympian, has tested positive three times for phenylpropanolamine, a stimulant banned under International Amateur Athletic Federation rules. According to The Athletics Congress, which governs the sport in the United States, Myricks, 34, tested positive at three indoor meets earlier this year--Jan. 12 at Hamilton, Canada; Feb. 23 at the National Indoor Championships in New York, and Feb. 27 at Seville, Spain.

Myricks has been ineligible to compete for the last nine months.

According to IAAF rules covering stimulants, in the first instance of a positive test, the athlete is suspended for three months; in the second, for two years, and in the third, for life.

Phenylpropanolamine is a drug on the “B” list of banned drugs, which carry less severe sanctions than “A”-list drugs such as anabolic steroids.

“B”-list drugs are often believed to have been taken inadvertently, and the list contains several compounds found in common cold preparations and nasal sprays. Many of these drugs, however, are stimulants and therefore are prohibited.

Myricks’ hearing will be held via conference call, and if the panel finds that there were adequate grounds for his suspension by TAC, his career in track and field effectively will be over.

Myricks, who lives in Upland, had told TAC officials that at the time of the National Indoor Championships he had taken Alka-Seltzer Plus to combat flu symptoms. The stimulant phenylpropanolamine is found in that medicine.

Myricks questioned the officials’ presumption that athletes are taking the drugs not because they are sick, but because they want a performance boost.

“It’s ridiculous to me,” he said. “The point of the drug-testing system is to rid the sport of people who take performance-enhancing drugs. My marks indoors were so sub-par it was ridiculous. Anyone who looks at this objectively can see that this stuff was not doing me any good.”

Myricks was the long jump bronze medalist in the 1988 Olympic Games at Seoul and the world indoor champion in 1987 and ’88.