NEW OLYMPIC DOPING ACCUSATIONS CAST SHADOW

With the Sydney Summer Games less than three months away, athletes and
Olympic officials say that chaos and deficiencies in drug testing threaten
the credibility of any performance that requires strength, endurance and
speed. New anti-doping agencies have been created and new drug tests may
soon gain approval, but the Olympic movement is hounded by the perception
that its athletes are not clean and that its top officials do not do enough
to stop them. Fueling the speculation are accusations by a former United
States Olympic Committee official, a flurry of swimming world records that
other athletes view suspiciously and inconsistency in policies among sports
federations and individual countries.

In the latest furor, the former head of the U.S.O.C.'s drug-testing program
has claimed that in recent years half of the American athletes who have
tested positive for banned substances have not been punished. Wade Exum,
who made that accusation through his lawyer on Tuesday, asserted in a
letter dated June 5 that the U.S.O.C. was "deliberately encouraging the
doping of athletes without considering the consequences to their health."

The U.S.O.C. has denied the accusations, portraying Exum as a disgruntled
employee whose job had been in jeopardy because of the creation of an
independent drug-testing agency.

But many athletes may not care whether Exum's charges are true. Many of
them have long questioned the determination of the U.S.O.C. to root out the
problem of drugs. In part to allay these suspicions, the U.S.O.C. will
shift to independent testing after the Games in Sydney, Australia.

Steve Holman, America's premier miler, is a vocal antidrug advocate who has
proposed regular, volunteer drug testing among athletes. "It's depressing,"
he said.

"This is going to give more people confirmation that sport is dirty. It
wasn't like it was a revelation. It merely confirmed what I was thinking
all along."

Confusion and inconsistency exist on many levels. Three of the 28
international Olympic sports federations, for tennis, cycling and soccer,
have not agreed to uniform punishments for doping offenses. And only three
federations, for archery, swimming and weight lifting, have fully agreed so
far to out-of-competition drug tests to be conducted by the newly
established World Anti-Doping Agency before the Sydney Games. Unannounced,
out-of-competition testing is considered the only reliable way to catch
cheaters.

Also, some high-profile track and field athletes who tested positive for
banned substances have gone unpunished by their own countries. Cuba has
refused to suspend the world record-holder in the high jump, Javier
Sotomayor, even though he tested positive for cocaine last summer at the
Pan American Games. Jamaica, too, has cleared the sprint star Merlene
Ottey, even though she tested positive for the steroid nandrolone at a meet
last July. However, their participation in Sydney remains in doubt. Both
have appealed suspensions by track and field's world governing body. A
decision is expected this week.

Some important steps have been taken to increase the reliability and
credibility of drug testing at the Sydney Games. Four hundred
out-of-competition tests will be taken in Sydney before the Games even
begin, and independent observers will monitor the testing to lessen
long-held international suspicions that positive tests were often covered up.

There is also the chance that a test will be approved for Sydney for the
detection of a synthetic version of the hormone EPO, which increases
oxygen-carrying capacity and is believed to be widely used in track and
field and cycling. The board of directors of the Tour de France is expected
to announce today or tomorrow whether a French-developed test will be used
in this year's race.

However, the International Olympic Committee is insisting on further
scientific replication of the test. Dr. Patrick Schamasch, the I.O.C.'s
medical director, said in an interview yesterday that it was "50-50"
whether an EPO test would be approved for Sydney.

Holman said the history of foot-dragging by the I.O.C. led him to believe
that no test for EPO would be in place for Sydney. "I can almost hear the
excuses," the miler said.

Others are more optimistic, like Rob Housman, assistant director of
strategic planning for the White House drug policy office, which has been
forcefully pushing for more reliable drug testing in Olympic sports.

"There will be a new reality in Sydney," Housman said. "We will likely have
an EPO test, or close to one. Any athlete who is thinking about cheating
has to think that if he does, he might get caught. Managing the tests and
the results will be aboveboard and above reproach."

Frank Shorter, gold medalist in the men's marathon in 1972 and chairman of
the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which will begin operating
independently of the U.S.O.C. after the Sydney Games, said he was confident
that international governmental pressure on the I.O.C. would result in an
EPO test for the 2000 Summer Games. Innocent athletes deserve to be
protected by tests for substances like EPO and human growth hormone, he
said. If the tests are not ready for Sydney, Shorter said, "That says that
every performance in these Games involving endurance and strength is suspect."

The skepticism is already roiling around a Dutch swimmer, Inge de Bruijn,
who has tied or broken seven world records since late May. Suspicions have
been particularly aroused by her record of 56.69 seconds in the 100-meter
butterfly, a stunning 1.19 seconds below the world record formerly held by
the American Jenny Thompson in a race where standards are usually set by
hundredths of a second.

This follows the 1996 Atlanta Games, where the swimming was marred by
suspicions that an Irish swimmer, Michelle Smith de Bruin, used
performance-enhancing drugs to win her three gold medals. She later was
suspended for four years for manipulating a urine sample.

Don Talbot, coach of the Australian swim team, told reporters in Australia:
"It's an unfortunate fact of life now that anybody that swims fast, makes
big improvements, immediately comes under suspicion. It's really sad,
because good athletes should be able to glory in their wins and not be
criticized for them."

De Bruijn has said that her improvements had come by "training like an
animal," not through performance-enhancing drugs. Her supporters believe
that her neck-to-toe bodysuits can increase speeds significantly. Paul
Bergen, the respected American coach who works with de Bruijn in Portland,
Ore., said that some of the reflexive skepticism about swimmers "is out of
legitimate concern, but now it's almost gotten to the point of sour grapes."

"For someone to suspect that I would be coaching using the method of
cheating bothers me," Bergen said. "But it's almost like the more you say
she's clean as a whistle, the more you keep drumming up controversy. We'll
take her training to Sydney and see who wins and loses. They can do all the
pre-complaining they want. She made a major lifestyle change coming to this
country, killing herself in the weight room, changing her stroke, giving up
her family and boyfriend to do this for two and a half years. But it's
almost like, 'oh, she cheated,' instead of recognizing her hard work."

The credibility of drug testing in the United States has received a severe
blow in the wake of the accusations made by Exum, the U.S.O.C.'s former
drug chief. He said in an interview that he could not be more specific in
his charges of drug-testing deficiencies, on advice of lawyers, and that he
was contemplating filing a lawsuit against the U.S.O.C. One of the few
black administrators on the Olympic committee, he has also charged the
group with racial discrimination.

Scott Blackmun, the senior managing director of sports resources for the
U.S.O.C. and Exum's former boss, said Exum had made similar allegations
internally but an investigation by outside counsel had shown the charges to
be unfounded.

"I categorically deny the proposition that the U.S.O.C. has done anything
to assist athletes in doping," Blackmun said yesterday.

Privately, U.S.O.C. officials concede that the national governing bodies of
various sports, which actually mete out punishment for doping offenses,
have not always vigorously prosecuted positive tests. But Blackmun said he
had seen no evidence to suggest that half of Americans who tested positive
for drugs in recent years went unpunished.

"We remain open to discussing any alleged improprieties," Blackmun said.
"But despite numerous requests, all he's willing to provide are vague
generalities."

There are other concrete issues to address. Even if an EPO test is
approved, scientists and drug officials admit, tests for other
performance-enhancing substances believed to be widely used, such as human
growth hormone, insulin growth factor and sophisticated steroid creams and
gels that can be flushed from the body in 24 to 48 hours, will not be
available in Sydney, thus minimizing the credibility of all clean tests.

Regarding EPO, the French test, which uses a urine sample, can detect the
use of the synthetic hormone for only three days, Schamasch said.
Australian scientists have designed a blood test to detect long-term use,
but it provides only an indirect indication of EPO and is legally less
reliable. If approved, both methods could be used as screenings in 300 EPO
tests before and during the Sydney Games, he said.

Shorter said the I.O.C. should employ the EPO test in Sydney to put
athletes who intend to cheat at a psychological disadvantage.

"If the Tour de France is willing to stake its reputation and risk legal
challenges, the I.O.C. should do the same thing," Shorter said. If the
I.O.C. does not show a good-faith effort to employ the tests, he said, the
Australian government should nationalize drug testing and take it out of
the I.O.C.'s hands.

Housman of the White House drug policy office worried about the future of
the Olympics. "There is something beautiful and wonderful about the Olympic
Games," he said. "Almost all the nations come together in peace and compete
honorably. If it doesn't mean anything anymore, if it's not the athlete but
his pharmacist competing, why watch it?"