USOC Pushes for Drug Case Details

The U.S. Olympic Committee executive board should consider decertifying USA Track & Field if that organization continues to refuse to provide information in the Jerome Young doping case, an internal USOC report says.

The report, which was dated Dec. 5 and obtained by The Times on Tuesday, says, “No United States [sports federation] should undertake to put at risk the reputation of the entire American Olympic movement over a situation with such a simple path to resolution.”

It also says, “Unless and until USATF resolves the Jerome Young matter, it will not be possible for USATF to address successfully the perception of a culture that favors doping in the sport of track and field in the United States.”

The report, written by a panel, said USATF should produce materials related to the case within “a reasonable but short period of time” -- perhaps within seven days of the USOC’s executive board issuing a formal request. The board is expected to discuss the issue soon.

USATF President Bill Roe and Chief Executive Craig Masback declined to comment.

USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said it is “premature” to predict what action the executive committee might take.

A USATF appeals panel cleared Young in July 2000 to compete at the Sydney Olympics even though he had tested positive the year before for the banned steroid nandrolone. Young went on to win a gold medal at the Sydney Games as part of the 1,600-meter relay. The appeal was conducted in secret, and various authorities have long wanted to review the clearance.

Young has said he never committed a doping offense.

The Young case has, for more than three years, strained USATF’s relationships with the USOC, the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency and track’s worldwide governing body, the International Assn. of Athletics Federations.

The IOC is in the midst of an inquiry and the IAAF has asked for more information, which USATF has maintained it cannot provide because of confidentiality rules.

The report is further evidence of the USOC’s resolve to get the answers it wants or force USATF out of the Olympic movement.

It also documents for the first time in writing the uncertainty that has swirled for the last several months in some Olympic precincts about Masback’s future at USATF.

Masback, a lawyer widely regarded as one of the sharpest intellects in the Olympic movement, has taken a position on the Young issue that has sparked concerns about USATF’s direction.

For example, USATF, in a report it provided Nov. 19 to the USOC, acknowledged that the confidentiality rules by which it operated from 1989 to 2000 “may have been too strict and ‘athlete-oriented.’ ” It added, “We have changed our rules ... so that an issue such as this can never arise again.”

However, USATF maintains it is still bound by an arbitration ruling backing its position on confidentiality in the Young case and a dozen others. Officials with such entities as the USOC and WADA claim that the arbitration ruling is no longer binding in Young’s case because the identity of the athlete is no longer a secret.

Young was identified in an Aug. 27 Times’ article as the athlete who had tested positive. The next month, the USOC formally confirmed for the IOC that it was Young. But the USATF still refers to the case only as that of the “Olympic athlete.”

The USOC report complains that USATF “continues to believe this is primarily a technical legal issue and not a matter that goes to the very core of the integrity of its sport and Olympic sport generally.”

Further, it takes a dim view of an initiative approved by the USATF at its assembly last weekend in Greensboro, N.C., that calls for a lifetime ban for first-time steroid offenders, saying it “appeared to be more concerned with public relations than with resolving the problem.” Several experts have said this week that the initiative is unlikely to pass legal muster.

The USOC first demanded an explanation from USATF in October, seeking answers in three areas: the Young case, a USATF “culture regarding doping,” and “athlete behavior issues, especially in high-profile track and field events.”

USOC officials say USATF responded favorably on the latter two issues, invoking tougher rules and educational initiatives on appropriate conduct at major events.

The behavior issues stem from two events in particular. At the Sydney Games, members of the U.S. men’s 400-meter relay team preened and flexed after winning the race. Then, at the world championships in August in Paris, U.S. sprinter Jon Drummond refused to leave the track after being disqualified.

In what Roe of USATF acknowledged might be considered awkward timing, he included Drummond among those bestowed at the USATF assembly with a President’s Award, given to those who have “served the organization with distinction through the years.”

Drummond has long been an activist involved in athletes’ rights and Roe, predicting Drummond would be a “valuable future leader” of USATF, said Tuesday, “People should be reminded Jon didn’t suddenly disgrace himself and everything he has ever done by one hectic moment in field of play.”

Drummond could not be reached for comment.