ATHLETE TESTS POSITIVE FOR COCAINE

Tied Silver High Jumpers Take Over Top Spot

WINNIPEG - What in-line hockey goalie Steve Vezina took away from
Canada, Cuban high jumping star Javier Sotomayor gave back at the Pan
Am Games yesterday.

Sotomayor, one of the top track and field stars in the world, was
stripped of his gold medal in the men's high jump after testing
positive for cocaine.

The stunning development means Canada will get two gold medals because
of Sotomayor's disqualification. Mark Boswell of Brampton and Kwaku
Boateng of Montreal both tied for second behind Sotomayor in the men's
high jump last Friday.

Just three days ago, the Canadian in-line hockey team was stripped of
its gold medal when Vezina tested positive for an enormous amount of
steroids and two stimulants.

Sotomayor, whose popularity in Cuba parallels that of Ben Johnson in
Canada prior to the Seoul Olympics, was not the only major track star
in the news yesterday for a positive test.

British sprinter Linford Christie, 1992 Olympic 100-metre gold
medalist, has tested positive for nandrolone, the same drug found in
Vezina's system. Christie claims he is innocent of the result from a
February track meet in Germany.

Cuban officials were also insisting yesterday that Sotomayor is
innocent and hinted at sabotage.

``We believe he is completely innocent,'' said Dr. Mario Granda, the
Cuban medical chief, suggesting among other things that the substance
may have been put in Sotomayor's food.

Mario Vazquez Rana, president of the Pan American Sports Organization,
said no excuses would be accepted and that, as a veteran athlete,
Sotomayor was responsible for everything he ingests.

``Sotomayor is not a child, he has a lot of experience, he knows
anything he has to swallow must be checked,'' Vazquez Rana said.

Sotomayor's positive test for cocaine was measured at 200 nanograms
per million. Eduardo de Rose, head of the Pan Am Games medical
commission, said the amount indicates ingestion of the cocaine had
taken place ``within four to five days.''

Cocaine is banned under International Olympic Committee rules as a
stimulant. Sotomayor, one of the biggest track stars in the world,
faces a two-year ban from the International Amateur Athletics
Federation, the sport's governing body.

Getting the gold medal is hardly satisfying for Boswell, 22, who
idolizes Sotomayor and has grown up watching videotapes of the world
record holder and Olympic champion.

Before leaving for Germany for a competition yesterday, Boswell said
he was still hoping reports that Sotomayor had tested positive would
prove untrue.

``To hear something like that is so disturbing,'' the former world
junior champion said. ``It was a big shock. But I'm against the idea
of someone taking substances to enhance performance.''

All of the doping tests at the Pan Am Games are being carried out by
the IOC-accredited lab in Montreal.

Sotomayor was the third athlete to get stripped of a gold medal during
the Games. Dominican high jumper Juana Rosario Arrendel lost her gold
Tuesday after testing positive for the same anabolic steroid
(stanozolol) that cost Ben Johnson his Olympic gold medal 11 years
ago.

``In this day and age, three (positive doping cases) is very little, a
very small figure,'' Vazquez Rana said. ``This is not staining or
soiling the Games. We can rate these Pan American Games as the best in
the history.''

In another development, Canadian in-line hockey team manager Dave
Bowen said the players have asked him to look into the possibility of
taking legal action against Vezina.