Torri Edwards - 2 year ban

Torri Edwards, the sprinter who had made the U.S. track and field team in the 100 and 200 meters, was suspended for two years by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, after the American Arbitration Association panel approved the decision by the world's governing body of track and field last week to suspend her.

The doping agency announced that it had penalized Edwards for using the banned stimulant nikethamide, for which she had tested positive at an April 24 meet in Martinique. Edwards, 27, intends to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has an ad-hoc division already established in Athens.

Calvin Harrison in action during the men's 400 meter qualifying dash at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Sacramento in this July 11, 2004 photo. AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy Calvin Harrison in action during the men's 400 meter qualifying dash at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Sacramento in this July 11, 2004 photo.

Calvin Harrison suspended two years


SLEEP MEDICINE COSTS SPRINTER OLYMPIC SPOT



Mercury News

Calvin Harrison of Salinas became the latest casualty of the American track and field drug scandal Monday when he was suspended for two years, losing his spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced that Harrison -- selected for the 1,600-meter relay pool in Athens -- was found guilty of taking the sleeping disorder medication modafinil in June 2003. A three-member arbitration panel rejected Harrison's claims that the positive test should have been his first offense, which would warrant a minor sanction.

Because Harrison tested positive in 1993 for pseudoephedrine, a stimulant no longer on the banned list, the latest offense counts as a second infraction, resulting in the two-year ban.

It also could jeopardize the United States' gold medal in the 1,600 relay at last August's world championships in Paris because all of Harrison's results from the time of the test will be nullified.

The international track and field federation will decide the fate of the world championship race; Harrison ran the opening relay leg.

``Calvin is particularly disturbed that they counted the '93 test as a first offense,'' said Edward G. Williams, Harrison's lawyer.

Harrison -- who could not be reached -- also was a member of the victorious 1,600 relay team at the Sydney Games four years ago. The international track federation has recommended that the team lose its gold medals because of a positive steroid test by Jerome Young in 1998.

Harrison's case is one of a handful being adjudicated this summer. Harrison's twin, Alvin, faces a lifetime ban after the anti-doping agency used evidence obtained in the Balco Laboratories criminal investigation to charge him. Alvin Harrison, who failed to qualify for the 2004 Olympics, is awaiting a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Sprinters Tim Montgomery, Chryste Gaines and Michelle Collins also are awaiting decisions in similar cases stemming from Balco, a Burlingame nutrition firm at the center of the drug scandal. The laboratory allegedly distributed the designer steroid THG to almost 30 athletes.

Middle-distance runner Regina Jacobs of Oakland retired last month, a day before officials suspended her for taking THG. Shot putter Kevin Toth and hammer throwers John McEwen and Melissa Price also were suspended for THG use.

Harrison tried to protect his Olympic eligibility by arguing he should have one violation. In the ruling, the arbitrators -- who met last week -- wrote that the argument was not legally sufficient for them to ignore the '93 positive when Harrison was competing in his first junior national meet in Spokane, Wash.


Contact Elliott Almond at ealmond@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5865.

THE BALCO BUNCH


A look at the athletes alleged in a federal investigator's memorandum to have received THG from Balco Laboratories (four others are depicted on Page 1D):

NFL

Barret Robbins: Plagued by a knee injury, he was cut by the Raiders in July. Also was fined three game checks ($234,375) recently by NFL for taking THG.

Bill Romanowski: Raiders released him during off-season and he retired. Has a role in the Adam Sandler remake of Burt Reynolds' prison football film classic ``The Longest Yard.''

Chris Cooper: On Raiders roster. Fined three game checks ($187,500) by NFL for using THG.

Dana Stubblefield: Unsigned. Fined three game checks (a yet-to-be- determined amount) by NFL for using THG.

Josh Taves: Out of football.

Daryl Gardener: Former Denver Broncos player has a bad back and may retire.

Johnnie Morton: Wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Jeremy Giambi: Plays for Triple-A Las Vegas 51s. Plagued by a herniated disk in his lower back early in the season.

Armando Rios: Plays for Triple-A Memphis Redbirds. Suspended indefinitely by the Mexican Baseball League earlier this year. Playing for the Tijuana Toros, he had a verbal altercation with the owner of another team.

TRACK AND FIELD

Marion Jones: Failed to qualify for Athens in the 100 and 200 meters. Did make the U.S. squad in the long jump.

Michelle Collins: Withdrew from the U.S. trials before her first heat in the 400 meters. Facing lifetime ban.

Regina Jacobs: Retired before her 1,500-meter heat at the trials, just before receiving a four-year ban for using THG.

Kevin Toth: Retired. The shot putter received a two-year ban for using THG.

Chryste Gaines: Failed to qualify for Olympic team in the 100 meters. Facing lifetime ban.

Alvin Harrison: Didn't make U.S. Olympic team in 400 meters. Facing lifetime ban.

Calvin Harrison: Made U.S. Olympic team as a member of the 1,600-meter relay team, but then was banned two years for using a stimulant.

Dwain Chambers: English sprinter was banned by UK Athletics for two years after testing positive for THG.

Kelli White: Top female sprinter in the world in 2003 received two-year ban after admitting to doping.

John McEwen: Hammer thrower received two-year ban after testing positive for THG.

Eric Thomas: Failed to make U.S. Olympic team in 400-meter hurdles.

Ramon Clay: 2002 U.S. outdoor 200-meter champion didn't compete at U.S. Olympic trials.

Zhanna Block: Ukrainian sprinter who lives in Tennessee has struggled this year.

Olga Vasdeki: Greek triple jumper didn't qualify for finals at world indoor championships.



Sprint star Kelli White of Union City has accepted a two-year ban from competition that will keep her out of this summer's Olympics in Greece, the Mercury News has learned. (AP) Sprint star Kelli White of Union City has accepted a two-year ban from competition that will keep her out of this summer's Olympics in Greece, the Mercury News has learned. (AP)

Balco ties result in ban for sprinter




Mercury News

Sprint star Kelli White of Union City has accepted a two-year ban from competition that will keep her out of this summer's Olympics in Greece, the Mercury News has learned.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency plans to announce the decision today, two sources familiar with the case said. White, 27, is the first of what could be a handful of American track and field athletes forced to withdraw before the Athens Games because of their connections to the Balco Laboratories drug scandal.

Anti-doping officials declined to comment.

Using unprecedented measures -- known as non-analytical positives -- anti-doping officials are trying to weed out any athlete suspected of using banned drugs -- even those who have not been caught by a positive drug test.

``USADA wants to create a domino effect so others fall,'' said a source familiar with the agency's new tactic. ``It will have implications at the Olympics and beyond.''

White could not be reached for comment. Her coach, Remi Korchemny, one of four Bay Area men indicted on charges of giving elite athletes drugs, said he did not know about White's status. But he indicated that White would not run in an international race in Mexico City this weekend because she has not recovered from a knee injury.

``I'm not sure that she can run at the Olympic trials,'' said Korchemny, of Castro Valley. ``She can't accelerate. It is impossible to run on that knee and constantly experience pain.''

A source told the Mercury News that anti-doping officials confronted White with evidence of drug use and that the sprinter accepted a two-year ban. Some of the evidence included schedules of use for banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Last month, the Mercury News reported that White and 11 other American track and field athletes, including sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, received the designer steroid THG from Balco owner Victor Conte Jr., according to a report prepared by an Internal Revenue Service investigator. Conte's lawyers denied that he confessed to an agent and questioned the veracity of the report.

White burst onto the sprint scene last year by sweeping the 100-meter and 200-meter titles at the national championships at Stanford. Two months later, in late August, she became the first American woman to win both sprints at a world championships. She won $120,000 in prize money, but her celebration was short-lived because she tested positive for modafinil, a sleeping-disorder drug.

At the time, the worldwide governing body for track and field considered modafinil a minor drug offense. White, whose modafinil case had been scheduled for this week, was facing disqualification from the world championships but no ban. She asked for an appeal because she stood to lose the prize money from her championships. White denied she took performance-enhancing drugs and said she suffers from narcolepsy. White also said she received the medication from Brian Goldman, the former medical director of Balco, a Burlingame nutrition company.

On Sept. 3, a week after White's positive test, agents raided Balco and took away boxes of evidence, some of which anti-doping officials have obtained through the help of the Senate Commerce Committee, which is headed by Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

In February, the government charged Conte, Korchemny, Balco vice president James J. Valente and Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds' personal trainer, with conspiring to distribute banned drugs to athletes. All four pleaded not guilty and are awaiting a trial date in San Francisco federal court.

Before last season's breakout, White had been considered a strong 200-meter runner but not the one who would challenge Jones, who has promised to sue the anti-doping agency if it tries to prevent her from competing in Athens.

White, a former star at James Logan High, returned to the East Bay after a standout collegiate career at Tennessee and worked with Korchemny. She won a bronze medal in the 200 meters at the 2001 world championships in Edmonton.

But plagued by foot injuries, White almost quit last year. She was roundly defeated in Mexico City a year ago by high school sensation Alyson Felix. Instead of quitting, White recovered from the painful injury and transformed into a 100-meter sprinter who regularly surpassed the 11-second barrier.


Contact Elliott Almond at ealmond@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5865.