Will drug scandal leave U.S. Olympic chances hamstrung?
In the United States, track and field talent runs so deep that coaches and officials are fond of saying they don’t pick the Olympic team, the athletes do – with their performances on the track. But this year, a major player in the selections will be the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the nongovernmental watchdog charged with policing Olympic sports for performance-enhancing drugs. Drug testing has been around for three decades, but for the first time, the agency wants to disqualify athletes because of evidence other than a positive drug test. With the U.S. Olympic Trials scheduled July 9-18 in Sacramento, Calif., the agency already has knocked out three athletes who won four events at the 2003 USA Track and Field Championships. It has a fourth defending champion on the ropes, still battling a likely ban from competition after a positive drug test last summer. Four more athletes – including Tim Montgomery, the world record holder in the 100 meters – face lifetime bans and have been called to
