USATF chief Craig A. Masback just made a statement regarding Marion Jones' guilty plea. Full text found at link below.
Here's quote from that statement:
"USA Track & Field condemns drug use by any athlete, and we are extremely disappointed in Marion Jones and the lies she has told regarding her use of performance-enhancing substances. Her fellow competitors, teammates and the sport are paying the price for her mistakes, and her admission cannot erase that damage."
Rest of statement found here:
Although Masback is still inept, the statement is very true and Jones - as we have all known for a very, very long time - is flat out disgusting
yo - why does everyone have to take every opportunity to bash on masback - usatf has done an excellent job leading this sport despite prior mishaps and the sport is in it's best shape in years. Masback at least gets partial credit for this.
u said it
No, the athletes, race directors, running clubs like wittenberg/fleming, usatf geniuses like pete julian, agents and media ppl like kimbia's matt taylor and post-collegiate running groups like hanson's and ZAP and team usa minnesota get credit for the u.s. running revival - NOT masback
unfair wrote:
the sport is in it's best shape in years.
"its"
unfair wrote:
yo - why does everyone have to take every opportunity to bash on masback - usatf has done an excellent job leading this sport despite prior mishaps and the sport is in it's best shape in years. Masback at least gets partial credit for this.
It was Masback who tried who almost got the USATF decertified by the USOC when Masback refufed to abide by IAAF rules regarding doping. He get 100% credit for that.
Glad I didn't grow up with you, then, not that there's anything wrong with that.
In my opinion, the best way to get athletes to stop doping is to sue the hell out of them after they're caught. If every meet director sued her for all the appearance fees and prize money, she'd be in court for the rest of her life. If this actually happened to enough drug cheats and they saw that they'd not only lose everything but be deep in debt for the rest of their lives from paying lawyers to defend them, some of the doping might stop. Not to mention every single record or medal they ever stole was stripped from the books.
USATF, WADA, USADA, IAAF, all let drug cheats slide, they turn their heads and let them substitute urine, tip them off a week before they come. A law suit is a good idea, but widening the federal investigations to include USATF, WADA, USADA, IAAF, etc. officers, volunteers, and staff, are a better idea, to get to the bottom of this farce.
Sue Them wrote:
USATF, WADA, USADA, IAAF, all let drug cheats slide, they turn their heads and let them substitute urine, tip them off a week before they come. A law suit is a good idea, but widening the federal investigations to include USATF, WADA, USADA, IAAF, etc. officers, volunteers, and staff, are a better idea, to get to the bottom of this farce.
I agree, she didn't do this all on her own or with just Graham, one husband or boyfriend or another, and Conte helping her. She had a whole structure of enablers throughout the sport.
Typical cover-your-ass Masback-speak. People used to think he was dirty back in the day.
Who could forget these days?
Track & Field could lose certification in doping case
Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Oct 18, 2003 by MERI-JO BORZILLERI
CLEVELAND - The U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Track & Field appear headed for a showdown over the Jerome Young case, in which the relay athlete was cleared to compete in the 2000 Olympics despite testing positive for drugs a year earlier.
Acting USOC president Bill Martin said Friday night the USOC is prepared to "use all available powers," to get track and field's governing body to cooperate in revealing the details of the case.
Martin did not rule out fines or issuing the USOC's most drastic penalty - decertification - to one of the nation's most prominent Olympic sports federations.
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If USA Track & Field were decertified it would lose its power as the sport's national governing body and its ability to conduct Olympic Trials. It would be the Olympic version of the NCAA's "death penalty."
Yet USATF officials, still referring to Young as "the unidentified athlete," insist the rules in place at the time of Young's positive test prevent them from revealing his name or details about why a U.S. appeals panel cleared him. In its strongest language to date, the USOC also said it is dissatisfied with Track & Field for its handling of doping issues, athlete conduct and credibility.
"This is tough love from a parent to a wonderfully high- performing kid," Martin said in the lobby of a Cleveland hotel, where the USOC policy-making executive committee met in advance of the two- day board of directors meeting that begins today.
After a five-hour meeting Friday, the USOC asked the USATF to submit a plan by Nov. 17 on how it will act to fix doping issues, deal with athlete conduct and and restore credibility to its sport. It also formed a three person panel to work with the federation.
The action comes one day after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the independent agency responsible for drug testing of U.S. Olympic sports, revealed several American track and field athletes tested positive for a new "designer" steroid during the U.S. Track & Field Championships in June.
Guilty athletes would face a twoyear ban, making them ineligible for the 2004 Olympics, set for Athens on Aug. 13-29.
USADA's Terry Madden said he is "fairly certain" the drug came from Balco Laboratories in California. Balco president Victor Conte told news outlets that he had heard that about 40 athletes have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury that began work Thursday. Kelli White, who could be stripped of two golds after testing positive for the stimulant modafinil this summer, told the San Francisco Chronicle she had been subpoenaed.
The lab listed famous athletes from pros to Olympians as clients, including Barry Bonds, Bill Romanowski, Marion Jones and her boyfriend Tim Montgomery.
Meanwhile, Young, a gold medalist in the 1,600 relay at the 2000 Olympics, had his name revealed recently, first by The Los Angeles Times and then by the USOC. That prompted the International Olympic Committee to investigate, and the International Association of Athletics Federations requested documents.
The USATF indicated Friday night it would go no further in supplying information on what they consider a closed case. An international arbitration court had ruled in USATF's favor before Young's name was revealed, which some feel allows the facts to come out.
"That's not our view," said Craig Masback, Track chief executive. "We are following our lawyers' advice . . . Our own rules prevent us from sharing information."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.