Randy Barnes Loses Appeal of Suspension

A panel of The Athletics Congress, which governs American track and field, upheld the suspension for steroid use of shot put world record-holder Randy Barnes, according to documents released today.

The three-member panel, which heard Barnes’ appeal last month, said the 1988 Olympic silver medalist had “presented no clear and convincing evidence” that his drug test samples were tampered with last summer in Sweden.

Barnes, 24, was suspended by the International Amateur Athletic Federation after testing positive for steroid use at an Aug. 7, 1990, meet in Malmo, Sweden.

The IAAF suspension bars Barnes from competing for two years, effectively preventing him from competing in the 1992 Olympics.

Barnes and his attorney, Washington lawyer John Dowd, were holding a press conference to react to the panel’s decision.

Barnes had vehemently denied steroid use. “In six years of competition, I have never taken any prohibited substance,” he said in an affidavit. “I have been subjected to dope tests on approximately 30 occasions since 1985 and have always tested negatively.”

Barnes won the shot put in Sweden with a heave of 74 feet, 11 1/4 inches, three months after setting the world record of 75-10 1/4 at Los Angeles.

In another decision announced today in New York, Henry Marsh, the American record-holder in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and a four-time Olympian, has had his two-year suspension revoked by the American Arbitration Assn, he said today.

In a press release, Marsh, 36, said the decision was made last Friday and received by him Tuesday.

Marsh was suspended early last year by The Athletics Congress, the governing body for track and field in the United States, for allegedly failing to make himself available for a drug test under TAC’s year-round random drug-testing program.

Following procedure, Marsh appealed the suspension twice last year, and both times the original decision was upheld.