Thursday, May 27, 2004
U.S. doping stance is drawing support
The Associated Press
LONDON - International anti-doping officials fully support the U.S. investigation that could bar Marion Jones and other track stars from the Athens Olympics even if they haven't failed drug tests.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is reviewing documents in the BALCO steroids case to determine whether there's enough circumstantial evidence to sanction athletes.
"It's not just a positive urine analysis that leads to a doping offense," World Anti-Doping Agency director general David Howman said Wednesday. "There are several other categories, including possession and trafficking and so on."
Jones, winner of five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, met with USADA officials Monday to look at the evidence, which includes a calendar with the initials "M.J." that investigators implied was a schedule for steroid use in 2001.
She has vehemently denied using illicit drugs and threatened to sue if the USADA tries to keep her out of the Athens Games.
Jones' lawyers showed the documents they were given by USADA investigators to the Associated Press on Tuesday, insisting there was no compelling evidence that Jones used banned drugs.
Besides the calendar, the documents that were seized in a raid on BALCO last year included a check written from Jones' bank account to Conte.
Jones' lawyers argue that the evidence falls short of the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard USADA says it will use to ban athletes without a positive test.
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