The Sidelines : U.S. Presses IOC on Drug Tests

The U.S. Olympic Committee has warned that the United States might not participate in next year’s Pan American Games in Cuba unless approved methods for drug testing of athletes are used.

The committee, on Sunday’s final day of a two-day meeting in Chicago, adopted a resolution stating its “grave concerns” about Cuba’s lack of a laboratory, necessary equipment or trained technicians to perform the tests.

The Pan Am Games will be held in Havana in August.

The United States is urging the International Olympic Committee to arrange for athletes’ urine samples to be flown to a properly equipped laboratory in North America, committee spokesman Mike Moran said.

The committee prefers such an approach to importing state-of-the-art urine analysis machines and qualified medical technicians for the games, Moran said.