Barnes Stays Out of Trials : Jurisprudence: Judge rules shotput world record-holder had other options before going to court.

Randy Barnes, the world record-holder in the shotput, will not be competing in today’s qualifying rounds at the U.S. Olympic trials.

That decision, by a U.S. District Court judge on Thursday, made it Track Officials 1, Suspended World Record-Holders 1.

Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. ended Barnes’ chances of competing here when he reversed a temporary restraining order issued Wednesday by a state circuit court judge in West Virginia. Attorneys for The Athletics Congress, the sport’s national governing body, had appealed that decision.

Barnes is serving a two-year suspension after having tested positive for anabolic steroid use on Aug. 7, 1990.

Copenhaver ruled that because Barnes had not exhausted all the appeals available to him, he had no right to enter the trials. Barnes had at least three more levels within the track and field system to which he could have appealed.

The judge also noted that Barnes is not a member of TAC, which is a requirement to compete in a TAC-sanctioned event.

Despite the ruling, Barnes went through with plans to show up at the meet today. His attorney said he also will continue to press a $50-million civil suit, filed against TAC and others earlier this week.

Butch Reynolds, the 400-meter world record-holder, will be on the track for today’s final. Unlike Barnes, Reynolds exhausted all appeals in the track community, then fought his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ordered officials not to prevent him from running.

Reynolds, 26, has survived three rounds of the trials in impressive fashion. He has the second-fastest qualifying time, and the statistical probability he will make the Olympic team has officials concerned.

There are eight runners in the final. The top three qualify for the Olympic team. The fourth-place finisher will be put on the 1,600-meter relay team and the next two finishers are alternates. That gives Reynolds a 75% chance to make the team in some way.

What will TAC and the U.S. Olympic Committee do if Reynolds finishes in the top six?

Both TAC and the USOC acknowledge that they would be in contempt of court if they kept Reynolds off the official U.S. team lists they submit to the International Olympic Committee. If Reynolds makes the team, they say, his name will be submitted.

The IOC, which has been kept apprised of the situation, also might choose to pass the buck. Although the IOC has ultimate authority over the Olympic Games, each international federation determines the eligibility of Olympic athletes in its sport.

The decision might go to the IAAF, track and field’s international governing body that has steadfastly maintained that Reynolds is ineligible, even as it reluctantly has abided by the American courts’ decisions that have allowed him to run.

This leaves Reynolds and his attorneys at a possible impasse. Who can they sue to get Reynolds into the Olympics in Barcelona next month, and would such a suit have any chance of success?

Reynolds’ attorney, Mimi Dane, isn’t saying. But she obviously isn’t ready to give up. “Stranger things have happened,” she said.