It’s Now a Dirty Little Secret Society

Sometimes, glancing around the track, Kenta Bell cannot help but wonder who might be on steroids. It is not a good feeling, but the triple jumper has grown accustomed to the idea that cheaters don’t always get caught.

Now, it seems, he has something else to worry about.

Some of his opponents might have tested positive for a banned substance, and authorities might be keeping it a secret.

This isn’t the criminal justice system where, for example, a felony sexual assault charge against Kobe Bryant is public record. In Olympic sports, anti-doping officials rarely disclose positive tests or charges until the matter is resolved weeks or months later.

This policy added another unsettling twist to the already controversial 2004 U.S. Olympic trials that concluded Sunday.

The meet was jolted by revelations that, unbeknownst to fans and fellow competitors, at least three athletes had tested positive before arriving in Sacramento.

Torri Edwards won a spot on the U.S. team by finishing second in the 100-meter dash, only to have anonymous sources say she had tested for a potent stimulant at a meet three months earlier.

Bell, headed for the Athens games after finishing third Saturday, said: “You wonder if you’re jumping against someone dirty.”

There might have been even more surprises at the trials if not for the BALCO scandal and earlier leaks about six athletes charged with doping violations.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has a strict policy about guarding athletes’ privacy in such matters. A USADA spokesman said the agency rarely comments on -- or acknowledges the existence of -- drug cases until a violation is confirmed.

The U.S. Olympic Committee also keeps quiet about positive tests, waiting for USADA to conduct an initial inquiry and issue a charge. The committee waits another 30 days before making a statement, by which time the case is often concluded.

Craig Masback, chief executive of USA Track & Field, said that reporting each stage of a doping case would amount to a “drip, drip, drip of suicide” for his sport. He prefers one statement at the end, “so there’s one day of negative news.”

Of course, doping cases don’t always proceed that quietly. The investigation of Marion Jones, who has neither tested positive nor been charged, is daily fodder for the media. Charges against six others -- including Jones’ boyfriend, sprinter Tim Montgomery -- were previously reported.

During the trials, word leaked of positive tests by Edwards; Mickey Grimes, eliminated in a 100-meter semifinal; and Larry Wade, who withdrew from the 110-meter hurdles.

Subsequent to these revelations, Edwards and Grimes competed in the 200. Edwards earned a second Athens berth by finishing third; Grimes ran seventh, failing to qualify.

The sprinters could ultimately be exonerated but, if not, there is no changing the fact that they advanced through 100-meter preliminary heats, denying others a shot at the final, while no one knew about their situation.

And what of a fourth-place finisher who walks off the track dejected, unaware he lost to someone who could be suspended for doping?

“It’s the top three ... with a catch,” said javelin thrower Leigh Smith, who made the team. “There’s all sorts of weird things that can go on.”

Fans also might be misled.

Much of the trials’ popularity hinges on their reputation as a sudden-death competition. A world-record holder can stumble and fail to make the team. An unknown can surge into the top three, earning a trip to the Games.

As USA Track & Field boasts: “There is no athletics meeting quite like the trials.”

Technicalities throw a wrench in the process. A top-three finisher who does not have an Olympic-qualifying mark can be replaced by someone who does. Injuries can play a role.

This year, undisclosed positive tests were added to the list in a very public way.

Yet, for all the uproar over such cases, athletes and coaches who came to Sacramento supported the no-tell policy.

“If they don’t have the correct information, it’s not fair to name names,” sprinter Sanya Richards said.

Dick Booth, who coaches jumpers, said: “If they’re completely exonerated, then you’re going to have some libel suits or slander or whatever you call it.”

One of Booth’s athletes, triple jumper Tim Rusan, experienced the situation firsthand.

In May, Rusan tested positive for marijuana at a Rio de Janeiro meet. No one else knew, not even his coach, who said, “I just read about it in the papers the other day.”

Rusan quietly trained for two months with the case hanging over his head. Finally, USADA issued a warning, but no suspension, on the first day of the trials.

The jumper, who finished fourth Saturday, was glad the situation did not go public any sooner.

“Some things need to be personal,” he said. “What if they had come out and said something and it frustrated me and frustrated my whole performance?”

So while controversy dogged Jones, who won the long jump, her competitors claimed to pay no attention. “No one’s even talked about it,” said Rose Richmond, who finished fourth and stands to move into the top three if someone above her is disqualified.

Otis Harris took a similar approach to the 400 meters, where he ran against Calvin Harrison, whose pending stimulant case has been widely reported.

The situation was resolved -- at least on the track -- when Harris took a surprising second in Thursday’s final and Harrison finished fifth.

“I don’t have control over who’s doping or USADA,” Harris told reporters afterward, as Harrison rushed off without comment. “I just have to come out and do my best.”

Asked about the prospect of competing against athletes who have secretly tested positive, Bell put it another way.

“Kill ‘em all,” he said. “Sort ‘em out later.”