Ex-USOC Official: Drug War Being Lost

Officials are losing the war against performance-enhancing drugs, former U.S. Olympic Committee executive director Baaron Pittenger said after revealing in an interview that six athletes in five sports tested positive during last summer’s Goodwill Games.

“My feeling is that these results are indicative of what is still going on,” said Pittenger, an administrator of the joint U.S.-Russian doping control effort that tested 300 athletes during the 16-day competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. “The problem has not improved over the years. It remains very serious.”

Of the six athletes, the name of only one, a Chinese swimmer, has been announced. She has been banned for two years by the international federation for her sport.

Sources close to the Goodwill Games said the others have not been sanctioned by their federations--boxing, cycling, weightlifting and canoe-kayak--because of delays in completing the process.

Two Cuban boxers, believed to be gold medalists, tested positive for diuretics, most often used by athletes in sports with weight classifications to aid them in losing pounds.

Bruce Mathis, executive director of USA Boxing, said he is aware of the situation and believes it will be addressed during the international boxing federation’s annual meeting later this month in Beijing.

The other four athletes tested positive for anabolic steroids, drugs used to enhance strength.

Pittenger, who is here for the U.S. Olympic Congress, said six positives in 300 tests is a high percentage compared to other international, multi-sport competitions.

“I think our progress has been slow,” he said. “I don’t want to say nothing is being done. But not enough is being done. Drugs are still a great threat to the integrity of the Olympic Games and other international sporting events, and I don’t understand why more is not being done.”

Pittenger said he does not believe that unannounced, out-of-competition testing adopted within recent years by several sports governing bodies is the answer.

“My feeling is that we have to look for other ways,” he said. “We have to redouble our efforts in the area of research that will enable us to effectively test at competitions.”