slaney isnt a cheat wrote:
A three-member hearing panel issued a one-sentence statement vindicating Slaney for a disputed drug test at the 1996 Olympic trials, but did not explain its decision. Ann Breen-Greco, the chairwoman, said that the panel had 15 days to issue its findings and that she would discuss the case then.
That hearing was a violation of Masback's fiduciary responsibilities on many fronts: 1) He stacked the panel. One member, Jill Pilgram, who Masback had hired as general council for USATF, had blatant conflicts of interest. 2) Representing Slaney was a former colleague in a firm that Masback worked had for. 3) In the most egregious offense of all, Masback hired a lackey volunteer associate attorney to represent the USATF's interests in the case, insuring that the fix was in.
The IAAF saw through this charade and sent the case to CAS arbitration, where the fraudulent USATF decision was overturned.
Nike and Slaney tried to overturn the IAAF's decision on frivolous legalistic grounds and were roundly beaten in every hearing.
From American Lawyer
"If one case highlights the conflict between USATF and the international track federation, it's that of Mary Decker Slaney, the phenomenal middle-distance runner. In June 1996 the 37-year-old Slaney was making one last bid for an elusive Olympic medal. At the Olympic trials, Slaney finished second in the 5,000-meter finals, qualifying for the team. A urine sample taken after that race showed testosterone levels more than ten times the norm for women. Slaney denied she was doping, instead blaming her menstrual cycle and a change in birth control pills. While her doping case was pending, she competed in the Atlanta Olympics but did not medal.
When Masback took over USATF in the summer of 1997, the organization had yet to hold a hearing in Slaney's case, despite a year's passage since the runner's positive test. Aggrieved by USATF's perceived foot-dragging, the IAAF suspended Slaney. USATF finally held a hearing in September 1997. The three-person panel included athlete advocate Pilgrim, who was then in private practice. Slaney was represented by former Wilmer, Cutler partner James Coleman, Jr., who had practiced law with Masback at that firm. To present the case against Slaney, USATF used a volunteer fourth-year associate from San Francisco's Pillsbury Madison & Sutro (now Pillsbury Winthrop)."