EX-USOC DRUG CZAR CLAIMS BIAS, SAYS ANTI-DOPING EFFORTS SABOTAGED

DENVER -- The former drug czar for the United States Olympic Committee
filed a federal lawsuit against the committee Monday, claiming its leaders
sabotaged his anti-drug battle and discriminated against him because he is
black.

Claiming the USOC "has thrown road blocks in the path of anti-doping
enforcement," Dr. Wade Exum repeated startling accusations he made when he
resigned in protest last month, saying about half the American athletes who
have tested positive for prohibited substances have gone unpunished.

In a 30-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, Exum claims
that in its quest for Olympic gold, the USOC has evaded its responsibility
to screen and discipline athletes for drugs.

Exum's anti-drug efforts have been "willfully and repeatedly undermined" by
the committee's "unwillingness to adopt an anti-doping program that had any
real probability of preventing athletic doping and protecting the health
and well-being of American athletes," it says.

The USOC's "real interest is in procuring gold medalists who perform not
just superbly, but who realize superhuman achievements," the suit claims,
adding that the USOC "knows that to achieve these superhuman records,
doping must occur."

While the lawsuit names no athletes, it says Exum "has knowledge of
American athletes who have tested positive for performance-enhancing
substances in the United States Olympic Trials who have escaped sanctioning
and gone on to win medals at the Olympic Games."

As an example of unpunished violations, the suit says that in nine years
with the USOC, Exum has never once seen an athlete sanctioned for using
testosterone.

The suit accuses the USOC of deferring to each sport's individual governing
body on discipline, resulting in punishments that are nonexistent or so
light that they encourage drug use.

It says Exum was told to mind his own business when he raised concerns that
non-doctors were given keys to what the suit calls "a pharmacopeia" in the
USOC's Sports Medicine Division and allowed to dispense the medicines to
athletes.

Exum resigned June 5 after nine years as director of the USOC's Drug
Control Administration, saying he was forced out by racial discrimination,
ethical dilemmas, harassment and other factors. One of his eight claims in
the suit is wrongful termination.

Exum's claims of racial discrimination - against the USOC and the United
States Anti-Doping Agency - are based on allegations that he was repeatedly
passed over for promotions and denied opportunities in favor of whites, and
was "subject to hyper scrutiny" because of his race.

Exum also claims he was retaliated against after he tried to eliminate a
perceived conflict of interest in drug testing. The suit says the directors
of the two labs that have been hired to analyze urine samples for the USOC
also sit on the board of its Anti-Doping Committee.

It also claims that Exum was asked to participate in a study that involved
testing prohibited substances on athletes "using a protocol amounting to
racial profiling," and was then excluded from participation when he
objected to the program.

USOC officials have defended the study, which was funded by the
International Olympic Committee and the Australian government and involved
athletes at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and the
volunteers at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

When Exum made a similar accusation last month, USOC spokesman Mike Moran
said the athletes selected were "a cross section of the United States
Olympic Team based on gender, race, age and place of residence" and called
racial-profiling claim "reckless and without merit."

Moran also denied other allegations Exum and his lawyers made last month,
saying, "we find it incredible that the individual charged with the
direction and success of our own drug program now is criticizing it and
challenging its effectiveness."

USOC officials did not return calls for comment Monday.