Twenty-four American athletes who won Olympic medals had previously tested positive for banned drugs, but the cases were handled properly without any cover-ups, the USOC said Wednesday.
The USOC will report the cases to the IOC today as part of a review of its drug-testing program from 1985 to 2000, spokesman Darryl Seibel said.
"The report will clearly indicate that there was no cover-up and these cases were adjudicated with the applicable rules at the time," Seibel said.
Seibel said the "vast majority" of the 24 cases involved stimulants in the ephedrine class or similar substances. He declined to identify the athletes or sports involved.
Some of the positive tests occurred years before the athletes won Olympic medals, according to US officials. The punishment at the time for positive ephedrine tests was a warning or three-month suspension.
Confirmation of the 24 cases, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, came on the same day the IOC said it couldn't take action in the alleged doping case involving US sprinter Jerome Young.
The International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency have been investigating accusations Young tested positive for nandrolone in 1999 but was cleared on appeal by US officials. He went on to win a gold medal in Sydney as part of the 1,600-meter relay team.
WADA chairman Dick Pound has pushed for the gold medals to be stripped from Young and the rest of the relay team.
"No legal action can be taken at this point by the IOC," said IOC director general Francois Carrard, part of the four-member investigative panel. "The IOC can only contemplate legal action if the matter is reconsidered by the IAAF."
The IAAF said it, too, was powerless to act unless Young comes forward and admits to the positive test.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
RSS