Drug probes into US stars may go on
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) probes into some American athletics stars could remain active during next month’s US Olympic trials and beyond, a USADA official told the Washington Post. Travis T. Tygart, USADA’s director of legal affairs, said his group might not close all cases before the trials July 9-18 in Sacramento, California, the newspaper reported yesterday. That opens the possibility that athletes could remain under investigation through the Athens Olympics on August 13-29 and have retroactive disqualifications based upon USADA evidence, even without a positive dope test. USADA and the US Olympic Committee want the investigations to be expedited so the BALCO steroid doping controversy does not hang over the US lineup and the squad can be regarded as drug-free.
