U.S. OLYMPIC TRACK AND FIELD TITLES : TAC: Barnes Won’t Get Shot : Jurisprudence: Shotputter, however, wins his court case earlier in the day for right to compete.

The word trials has taken on a new meaning here at the the U.S. Olympic track and field trials, as yet another athlete--shotputter Randy Barnes--petitioned a court and won the right to compete.

A Kanawha County, W.Va., Circuit Court judge ruled Monday that Barnes, who set the shotput world record at Los Angeles in 1990, be allowed to participate in the event, which is scheduled to begin Friday. Barnes is serving a two-year suspension after testing positive for an anabolic steroid in August of 1990.

The Athletics Congress, which governs track and field in the United States, reacted strongly Monday night, issuing a statement from TAC President Frank Greenberg that read, in part: “Our organization has absolutely no intention of permitting Randy Barnes to compete. We forcefully oppose this attempt to circumvent proper procedures. His case is entirely without merit.”

However, Greenberg said late Monday night that TAC had not yet filed an appeal and was still reviewing its legal options.

Barnes joins Butch Reynolds as having been placed in the nation’s most prestigious meet via the American court system. Reynolds, the 400-meter world record-holder, won a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday that allows him to run in the first round.

Like Barnes, he is serving a two-year suspension for steroid use.

There was no word Monday on the status of the 400-meter preliminaries, which were originally scheduled to be run Saturday, has been postponed four times and is to be run today. Primo Nebiolo, president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the sports’ international governing body, spent the day consolidating support among the 23 IAAF Council members for a compromise he proposed on Sunday.

That calls for the lifting of the threat of bans against the 31 other runners in the competition. Officials hope that the elimination of the threat would head off a boycott of the race.

The specter of an additional four-year suspension against Reynolds remains.

Reynolds’ agent, expressed concern that Barnes’ legal action might anger the IAAF and jeopardize the success of the proposed compromise.

“This is going to mess us up,” Brad Hunt said. “It’s going to make it look too easy to do this.”

Barnes’ case is different from Reynolds’ on at least one legal point--Barnes’ entree into the meet came from Judge Paul Zakaib, Jr., whose state court has no jurisdiction over the trials in Louisiana. Reynolds’ ruling came from a federal court.

In addition, unlike Reynolds, who ran a qualifying time and formally entered the trials, Barnes has not competed in two years, has no qualifying mark and never entered the meet.

Barnes tested positive for at a meet in Malmo, Sweden, on Aug. 7, 1990. He claimed his urine samples were improperly handled and appealed. Barnes was suspended on April 23, 1991, but appealed to a TAC hearing board, which rejected his appeal. Barnes also lost in IAAF arbitration, where TAC President Greenberg was the only one of five panel members to support Barnes’ appeal.

Zakaib told the Associated Press: “Some questions have been raised as to the custody of the urine samples and the integrity of the tests themselves. I’m going to order that he be allowed to participate.”

If Barnes does get into the competition, he will join three other throwers who have just come off TAC suspensions--Fallbrook’s Jim Doehring and Houston’s Mike Stulce, who tested positive for banned substances, and Gregg Tafralis of San Francisco, who was banned for competing in South Africa. Three other throwers in the field also have served drug suspensions.

Barnes, 26, set the world record May 20, 1990, at the Jack in the Box meet at UCLA. Barnes threw 75 feet 10 1/4 inches on his second throw. He bettered the record of 75-8, held by Ulf Timmerman, formerly of East Germany. Barnes spoke of the record as being revenge for Timmerman’s winning the 1988 Olympic gold medal on his last throw. Barnes won the silver.

TAC and IAAF officials have expressed their exasperation with the legal maneuvering, which has been going on for five days. They are particularly angered that the court trials have overshadowed the Olympic trials. “We thought we were back to track and field, but now it looks like we’re back in court,” Greenberg said.

Predictably, the entire controversy has spawned ridicule, jokes and . . . T-shirts.

Monday’s T-shirt: The front reads “1992, the Year of the Reinstatement,” the back reads, “Do I still have time to be banned and reinstated?”