Sprinter White Runs Risk of Forfeiting Gold Medals

U.S. sprinter Kelli White will not be suspended, but the International Assn. of Athletics Federations appears set to charge her with a doping offense that could result in her losing two gold medals she won at the world track and field championships.

White, the first U.S. woman to win the 100 and 200 meters in the world championships, tested positive for a stimulant, modafinil, after winning the 100 on Aug. 24 in Paris.

Although modafinil is not on the banned list, IAAF officials have ruled that it is related to stimulants on the list. They decided Wednesday to categorize it as a light stimulant, similar to ephedrine, which carries a one-time warning. Eligible to compete again immediately, she will proceed with plans to run in a Golden League meet Friday in Brussels.

Had the IAAF categorized the substance as a heavy stimulant, such as an amphetamine, she could have been suspended for two years, meaning that she would have been ineligible for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

But she could still lose her world championship medals, as well as the $120,000 she earned in prize money, if found guilty of a doping offense. The IAAF gave her until Tuesday to produce information from her doctor regarding the reason she is taking the stimulant, which is found in a prescription drug that she said last week she needs to treat narcolepsy.

Even if satisfied with the response, the IAAF could charge her with doping offense for failing to either request an exemption to use the substance or declare that she was using it before she ran in Paris.

If the IAAF decides she committed a doping offense, it would refer the case to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which would schedule a hearing for White before determining whether she must forfeit her medals. Although she tested negative after the 200 meters Aug. 28, she would also lose that medal because her disqualification from the world championships would be retroactive to her appearance in the 100 final four days earlier.

“I don’t believe there is much probability that there is no doping offense because the substance was found in the athlete’s body,” Istvan Gyulai, IAAF executive director, told Associated Press.

Another U.S. athlete, quarter-miler Jerome Young, was allowed to run in the 2000 Summer Olympics after being cleared by a USA Track & Field panel from a positive test for a banned steroid the year before. The decision to clear Young was controversial.

But Arne Ljungqvist, the IAAF’s chief medical officer, said he is more confident in the U.S. system since the USADA took it over from USATF in October 2000.

White, 26, of Union City, Calif., said Wednesday at a news conference in Brussels that she will fight to keep her medals. She also reiterated that she did not use the drug to enhance her performance and that she failed to declare it because it was not on the banned list and she forgot she had taken it on the morning of the 100.

White, who said she has been taking the drug sporadically for several months, said that she and her Bay Area physician extensively researched the drug before it was prescribed. Even so, virtually every Web site related to modafinil warns that athletes should not take it because they might test positive for a banned substance.

Wilfried Meert, promoter of the Brussels meet, said he is not happy with White’s participation.

“It’s not a present,” he said. “But I can’t prevent her from running here when the IAAF says she can.”

White, who ran personal bests in Paris of 10.85 seconds in the 100 and 22.05 in the 200, is also scheduled to compete this year in the Grand Prix final in Monaco and in meets in Russia and Japan.