Running on Dope

by Mark Starr

As a champion sprinter admits she used forbidden substances, a widening scandal threatens the U.S. Olympic track team

It should have been the most glorious day of Kelli White's athletic career. The young American sprinter had completed her sport's most prized double, winning gold medals in both the 100 and 200 meters at the World Track and Field Championships in Paris last August. But instead of celebrating, White was trying to explain why she had tested positive for the banned stimulant modafinil, often used to treat narcolepsy. Dewy-eyed and with an audible catch in her throat, White revealed a hidden family history of the sleep disorder, which made this allegation of cheating particularly "harmful and hurtful." "I know that I did nothing wrong and sought no advantage over my competitors," she said. "I have never taken any substance to enhance my performance."

It was a heartfelt performance. And a complete lie. Last week White, 27, revealed that modafinil was the least of her doping offenses. She admitted that for several years now she has been taking a regimen of banned drugs--including steroids designed to be undetectable in tests and the endurance enhancer EPO--that elevated her from an also-ran to the 2003 U.S. and world champion. As part of her agreement with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), White accepted a two-year suspension from competition, and all her performances since Dec. 15, 2000, have been expunged from the records. "I have not only cheated myself, but also my family, friends and sport," she said in a statement. "I am sorry for the poor choices I have made." White also agreed to cooperate with the federal investigation, and more athletes could face sanctions before track and field's Olympic trials in July.

White's suspension is a showcase victory for the USADA, which used documents from the federal investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Op (BALCO) to make its case. Last fall, federal agencies raided the lab, a "high-tech" nutrition company that boasted many big-name clients, and later confiscated containers of illegal performance-enhancing drugs from an off-site facility. Since then, more than 40 athletes, including Sydney Olympics queen Marion Jones and her boyfriend, sprinter Tim Montgomery, have paraded before a federal grand jury investigating BALCO. So far four men, including White's coach, have been indicted. "A journey of 1,000 miles starts with the first step," says Dr. Gary Wadler, a U.S. member of the World Anti-Doping Agency. "This is only about the third step, but finally we're talking about giant steps."

This giant step was made possible by unprecedented federal cooperation that put key documents from the BALCO case in the USADA's hands. The agency opted to treat some evidence against athletes as the equivalent of a failed drug test--what it called "a nonanalytical positive." The USADA is under pressure to move swiftly, since both the Bush administration and the U.S. Olympic Committee have declared a goal of sending a clean team to this summer's Athens Olympics. But the agency faces obstacles. Jones, the sport's reigning superstar, has already warned USADA not to target her based on hunches or circumstantial evidence. Jones, who denies ever using illegal drugs and claims she bought only legal supplements from BALCO, threatened that if anyone attempts to keep her off the Olympic team because of "something somebody thought, you can pretty much expect that there will be lawsuits."

White's admission, however, suggests that the USADA comes armed with more than hunches. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the agency's treasure trove of evidence includes notes and e-mails to BALCO from "elite track and field athletes"--including one thank-you letter with "a bonus... to team BALCO." America's Olympic movement, often criticized for its halfhearted pursuit of drug cheats, may have begun--with these new, aggressive tactics--to reverse the trend. "The truth is, drug testing has proved to be a big flop," says Charles Yesalis, a Penn State expert on sports doping. "Now we're seeing that a take-no-prisoners, police approach may be the only way to get progress."

The BALCO investigation, however, did lead to the creation of new tests and, subsequently, to the re-examination of old but still potent urine samples from last year's U.S. and world championships. As a result, four U.S. stars who had tested clean the first time tested positive for the designer steroid THG, and five others tested positive for modafinil; all may be kept out of the Olympic trials.

With White's stunning confession and more suspensions as well as prosecutions almost certain to follow, BALCO looms as the biggest sports doping scandal in American history. To those who have crusaded against what they believe is an epidemic of performance-enhancing drugs, it is welcome vindication--a clear demonstration that an orchestrated industry of sports doping exists and that this country has been in the forefront. But at the very least, America, which has led the world in finger-pointing while lagging in enforcement, appears, finally, to be engaged in the fight.

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