The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Montgomery allowed to compete at Olympic trials

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Thursday, Jul 08, 2004

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Montgomery allowed to compete at Olympic trials

SACRAMENTO (USA), JULY 7. Tim Montgomery and five other athletes with doping accusations pending against them will be allowed to compete at the US Olympic trials, the head of USA Track and Field has said.

``The law of the United States is quite clear,'' USATF chief executive officer Craig Masback said. ``It says unless someone has received a full due-process hearing and found to be ineligible, they must be allowed to compete.''

That means world 100 metres record holder Montgomery, sprinters Christie Gaines and Michelle Collins, twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison and distance runner Regina Jacobs are free to enter the US trials, which starts on Thursday.

Montgomery and Gaines are entered in the 100, Collins and the two Harrisons in the 400 and Jacobs in the 1,500 at the trials, held at Cal State-Sacramento.

Montgomery, Gaines, Collins and Alvin Harrison have been told by the US Anti-Doping Agency there is evidence they have committed doping offences, even though they have not tested positive.

Calvin Harrison and Jacobs have tested positive for banned substances but are contesting those results and are awaiting hearings on their cases.

``We do not intend to prevent them from competing at the trials,'' Masback said.

The event runs through July 18, with the top three finishers in each event making the US team for Athens, provided the athletes have met Olympic qualifying standards.

However, the IAAF can bar athletes from the Athens Games if there are doping cases pending against them.

The muddled situation has prompted the International Olympic Committee to allow the United States to make unusually late substitutions to its team.

Montgomery and Gaines are bypassing US procedures and taking their case directly to the international Court of Arbitration for Sports. But even in those two cases, the process might not be finished before the Olympics.

``The hearing is not going start before the trials, obviously,'' Montgomery's attorney Howard Jacobs said on Tuesday. ``Beyond that I wouldn't want to speculate.''

The other four accused athletes plan to argue their cases before a US arbitration panel, but can take their cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sports as a last resort. The CAS findings are binding.

At the beginning of his teleconference, Masback read aloud a letter he has written to USATF's board of directors in advance of the trials. He spoke of the challenges the sport has faced in the past. — AP

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