Anti-Doping Agency Talks to Top Sprinters

With the Olympic Games drawing nearer, anti-doping officials have picked up the pace in an already rushed steroid investigation, meeting with three of the nation’s top sprinters in recent days, sources close to the situation said Wednesday.

Tim Montgomery, the world’s fastest man, sat down with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Wednesday and was presented with evidence of alleged doping violations, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the cases are ongoing. Two female sprinters -- Chryste Gaines and Michelle Collins -- met with investigators last week. They also were presented with evidence but refused to accept suspensions, the sources said.

Collins’ lawyer said USADA told him to expect a letter formally charging his client.

“We will resist any effort to disqualify Michelle Collins from the Olympics,” attorney Brian Getz said. “She has passed every drug test she has ever taken.”

Gaines’ lawyer declined to comment, but sources confirmed that her client also was expected to receive notification of charges.

In the case of Montgomery, who holds the world record at 9.78 seconds in the 100-meter dash, neither his attorney nor USADA officials would comment. It was unknown how these recent developments might affect the effort to send a clean U.S. team to the Olympic Games, beginning in Athens on Aug. 13.

While USADA’s efforts have heated up, there have been simultaneous developments in the related BALCO steroids case in the federal courthouse in San Francisco. Sources said prosecutors were seeking to negotiate plea bargains with some, if not all, of the defendants.

Authorities raided the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, last summer and subsequently alleged that the nutritional supplement company was distributing steroids to dozens of professional and Olympic athletes.

BALCO founder Victor Conte was charged, along with his vice president James Valente and two associates -- track coach Remi Korchemny and personal trainer Greg Anderson, who worked with Barry Bonds.

One of Anderson’s attorneys, Anna Ling, would neither confirm nor deny there are negotiations with prosecutors but said: “Mr. Anderson is inclined to take a plea agreement if it’s an appropriate and reasonable offer.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment, as did attorneys for two of the defendants. Conte’s lawyer could not be reached.

The BALCO case has provided fuel for USADA’s campaign. Though the government sought to keep its evidence sealed, some of the case files were subpoenaed by a Senate committee in April and turned over to the agency.

Typically, USADA -- a quasi-independent watchdog that oversees drug testing for U.S. Olympic athletes -- takes action after receiving a positive sample. In this case, it is using circumstantial evidence such as e-mail and canceled checks to pursue what it calls “nonanalytical positives.”

When the agency showed such evidence to sprinter Kelli White last month, she acknowledged wrongdoing and accepted a shortened, two-year suspension.

But nonanalytical positives remain controversial and other athletes have vowed to resist.

After meeting with USADA, five-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones dismissed the agency’s case against her, stating: “It is time to allow me to put this issue behind me once and for all.”

A representative for the sprinter said she had neither received notification from USADA nor been told to expect such a letter.

Now, Collins and Gaines appear ready to fight back. Collins was the world champion in the indoor 200-meter dash last year. The North Carolina resident trained in the same circles as Jones and Montgomery, who have a child together.

The New York Times reported that Collins was shown incriminating e-mail during her meeting with USADA. Sources said she also was asked about Jones and Montgomery and their former coach, Trevor Graham.

Gaines was the 100-meter national champion in 2001 and ran for U.S. relay teams that won medals at the world championships and Olympics. Like White, she trained with BALCO defendant Korchemny. Attorneys for some of the athletes have said that alleged cheaters have been offered shorter suspensions if they cooperate with the USADA investigation.

As one source put it: “They want everyone to snitch on their friends.”