USATF’s Masback Defends the American Way

Craig Masback ran 30 sub-four-minute miles in the 1970s. As executive director of USA Track and Field, he’s going the distance to defend his athletes against accusations by the International Amateur Athletic Foundation that the USATF covered up positive drug tests.

Masback, criticized by the World Anti-Doping Agency during the Sydney Olympics for failing to identify U.S. athletes who failed drug tests, got an endorsement from his peers and constituents last week when his contract was extended through 2005.

Masback maintains he has neither withheld information nor flouted WADA requests for information, saying his insistence that drug use must be proven before he will release violators’ names is an extension of the principle that the accused is innocent until proven guilty.

He insists that Dick Pound, chair of the WADA, and Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of WADA’s anti-doping commission, “are running for something,” and are unfairly targeting U.S. athletes.

“We’ve been fully responsive to anything WADA has asked of us,” Masback said. “We offered to have WADA do all our drug testing and adjudication, but they haven’t responded. We sent a series of letters to the IAAF, but the IAAF and IOC [International Olympic Committee] politicians haven’t given any particular response.

“We reported to them every case we needed to report before the Olympics. As for the allegations about C.J. Hunter [the U.S. shotputter who failed four IAAF drug tests last summer] that we covered up from the IAAF, they were IAAF tests in an IAAF lab, so how can we have covered up? All of this will be proven a lie.”

An independent commission, chaired by law professor Richard McLaren, is examining the USATF’s drug-testing policies. It has studied the organization’s records and interviewed staffers, and it is expected to release findings within a month.

“Our athletes were tested 3,000 times in 1999 and 2000. Baseball players weren’t tested once,” Masback said. “We’re actually a world leader on this subject. We should not be perceived as somebody who has done something wrong.”

Masback, who was hired in 1997, has a full and varied agenda. The U.S. won 20 track and field medals at Sydney, more than any other country but its lowest total ever. Masback is determined to improve that count.

“Part of that is the growth of track and field around the world,” he said. “Forty-three countries won medals at Sydney, the most ever in track and field. That not only implies we should be helping athletes who are already world-class, but we should be working with athletes who are coming down the pipeline. Kids with talent should be identified early, and coaches and kids should be helped.

“We had a meeting in mid-November to create a blueprint for what we want to do on an event-by-event basis. We want to identify how we can best help people who will be on what’s a pretty long journey. The average age of our Sydney team was 28.5 years old. This isn’t like gymnastics, where an athlete might peak at 16.”

Masback has helped develop corporate sponsorships, but he knows he must also raise awareness of the sport among sports fans. The Golden Spike tour, which will begin its third season, “is vitally important,” he said. So far, meets have been held in large cities, such as New York, Atlanta and Washington, but also in Fayetteville, Ark., and Pocatello, Idaho.

The L.A. Indoor Track and Field championships, to be held Feb. 11 at Staples Center, isn’t part of the Golden Spike tour but Masback considers the first-time event a key step in rekindling interest here. Masback identified Southern California as one of four centers of the sport, along with New York, Eugene, Ore., and San Francisco.

“The leadership group of the new meet is outstanding, and they have a very creative plan in bringing together high school, college and elite athletes,” he said. “We’re believers in L.A. as a market for track and field. If it can be part of the Golden Spike tour, we’d love to have it in the future.

“I think the focus should be on an outstanding high school meet and college meet and add on top of that a limited elite program. Successful events in track and field are those with tradition, and you can’t snap your fingers and have tradition. Clearly a number of L.A.-based athletes are among the best-known athletes in the world, and that provides an opportunity to have a high-profile event. But we’re dealing with a city that can’t support a professional football team. It’s harder to make a splash in L.A. . . .

“While there has not been successful elite track and field in L.A., certainly the high school state meet routinely sells out, which shows the interest in track and field is vibrant.”

OLYMPIAN TASK

Anita DeFrantz of Los Angeles, a first vice president of the IOC, has been mentioned as a potential successor to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, who will step down in July. The IOC has never had a female president, but DeFrantz, a 1976 rowing bronze medalist and president of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, could become a compromise candidate.

“It’s a powerful force in the world, and something I would truly like to serve in any way I could,” DeFrantz said of the Olympic movement. “And if my colleagues thought I could do that from that position, I would be honored. But [the gap between] saying that and being elected is far wider than the Grand Canyon.”

She also said the IOC, perhaps preoccupied with improprieties surrounding Salt Lake City’s 2002 organizing committee, might have paid less attention than warranted to Athens’ progress for the 2004 Summer Games. However, she said Athens will be ready to fill its role as host.

“We haven’t arrived at 2004 yet,” she said. “There are cultural differences. People were doubtful about Barcelona, but those were wonderful Games.

“It’s likely some things in Athens will not be completed, but they will still be wonderful Games.”

DeFrantz said fears of terrorism won’t dampen enthusiasm for the Athens Games. “For every person who doesn’t want to go, there are six who will go,” she said.

ROCKY ROAD TO RECOVERY

Naomi Nari Nam of Irvine, hailed as the next figure skating prodigy when she finished second in the 1999 U.S. championships at 13, continues to encounter obstacles on the road to stardom.

Perhaps overwhelmed by her early success, Nari Nam struggled on the Junior Grand Prix circuit last season. At the 2000 U.S. competition, she was fifth after the short program and fell twice in her long program, sliding to eighth.

Her latest challenge is making up for seven weeks she lost when a hip fracture kept her off the ice. Nari Nam, now 15, withdrew from the Junior Grand Prix series and the Pacific Coast Sectional event but got a medical bye from the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. to compete in the 2001 U.S. championships next month in Boston.

“She’s progressing quite well,” said her coach, John Nicks. “In all honesty, she’s got a 50% shot of making nationals. When she came back, the doctor put a restriction on jumping, and it takes awhile to get that back.

“It’s regrettable. I always like skaters to make, if not a good result, a good impression on the judges before nationals. That’s especially important with the Olympics approaching. That’s not to say she could not make it. It’s just going to be a little tougher.”

If she misses the national meet--or if she doesn’t perform well--her 1999 feat might be considered a fluke instead of a breakthrough. Nicks expects her to silence doubters.

“That’s a legitimate question and I know Naomi understands that and will prove them wrong,” he said.

Nicks also coaches Sasha Cohen, the 2000 U.S. silver medalist. Cohen has had a good season, except for a mistake-marred long program at the Nations Cup in Germany last month. She finished fourth behind Russians Irina Slutskaya and Elena Sokolova at the Cup of Russia, but she might have been a victim of hometown prejudice.

“The Russian press took such a liking to Sasha, they gave her a special reward at the end,” Nicks said. “The media were pointing to the fact she should have finished much higher. She skated two wonderful programs there.”

ON THIN ICE

The concrete foundation of the 2002 Olympic speedskating oval was demolished after samples showed flaws in the way the concrete had set, a minor embarrassment for Salt Lake City organizers. The original price for the oval was $27 million, but that will climb with rebuilding.

Although there’s ample time to rebuild the 400-meter oval for the Games, two competitions had to be moved. The U.S. sprint-junior sprint championships and the North American-Oceania Regional qualifying meet were moved to U.S. Speedskating’s old home, the Pettit National Ice Center in West Allis, Wis., Jan. 6-7 and Jan. 12-14, respectively.

The World Single Distance Championships, scheduled for March 9-11 at the Olympic Oval, may also be moved.

HERE AND THERE

Deadline for ordering tickets to the 2002 Winter Games is 11 p.m. today. . . . Anders Hedberg, a standout in the World Hockey Assn. and NHL, will be general manager of the Swedish Olympic hockey team at Salt Lake City. Hedberg was an assistant general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs for several seasons before losing a power struggle with Pat Quinn. . . . Olympic aerialist Britt Swartley, a seven-year member of the U.S. ski team, will sit out the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his right knee.

Australian swimmer Susie O’Neill, who won two gold, four silver and two bronze medals in three Olympics, has announced her retirement from competitive swimming. She may swim in occasional meets, but not at the elite level. Fellow Aussie Kieren Perkins, a two-time Olympic gold medal winner, also has retired. . . . Proposals to locate the new World Anti-Doping Agency in Lausanne, Switzerland, are being opposed by members of the European Union, who fear placing it in the same city as the IOC’s headquarters may jeopardize its independence. Other cities that have bid to be the permanent site are: Bonn; Lille, France; Montreal; Stockholm; and Vienna.

Two-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, a bronze medalist at Sydney, and other elite cyclists will take a lucky bidder on a training ride in Tucson next month, with proceeds of the bid going to the Cancer Research Institute. The winner will get a replica of the jersey Armstrong wore during his triumphant 1999 ride, as well as a bike ridden during the 1999 Tour de France. Bids can be placed at https://www.members.ebay.com/aboutme/ultimatebid through Thursday.