OLYMPIC REPORT / 35 DAYS TO THE GAMES

USA Track & Field officials said Thursday that the IAAF, which governs the sport internationally, has waived its “contamination rule” for the U.S. Olympic trials in Atlanta.

IAAF officials said last month that they would disqualify anyone who competed against suspended athletes, such as heptathlete Gea Johnson, allowed to enter here under a temporary restraining order despite her positive steroid test in 1994.

Concerned that as many as eight or nine other athletes serving drug suspensions might take their cases to court, USATF executive director Ollan Cassell succeeded in his appeal to IAAF President Primo Nebiolo at a meeting this week in Rome.