Two Positive Tests for THG

Two of 402 athletes at track and field’s world championships in August tested positive for the designer steroid THG, the sport’s worldwide governing body said Saturday.

The International Assn. of Athletics Federations did not identify the names or nationalities of the two athletes. It was not certain if the two were among the five -- four Americans and British sprinter Dwain Chambers -- known to have tested positive for THG.

A steroid offense typically draws a two-year ban from competition. THG, or tetrahydrogestrinone, was discovered this summer as a steroid tweaked to avoid detection by standard drug tests. The IAAF vowed to re-check samples from the August world championships in Paris after the Olympic-accredited lab at UCLA devised a test to detect THG.

The identities of the four Americans who tested positive for THG have not been officially disclosed. But news reports have identified three -- middle-distance runner Regina Jacobs, shotputter Kevin Toth and hammer-thrower John McEwen.

In other developments Saturday, the IAAF’s ruling council, meeting in Berlin, issued a “serious formal warning” to U.S. sprinter Jon Drummond and to USA Track & Field. Drummond disrupted the Paris championships by refusing to leave the track after being disqualified for a false start.

The IAAF also asked the International Olympic Committee for more information in the case of U.S. sprinter Jerome Young, who tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone in 1999 but was allowed to compete at the 2000 Sydney Olympics after being cleared -- in a secret process -- by a USATF appeals panel. Young won a gold medal in Sydney in the 1,600 relay.

-- Alan Abrahamson