Lisa Rainsberger said what she said and apparently it is due to information that was running rampant through discussions of U.S. runners back in the 1980s. It was not a coerced answer. Below is an article from the L.A. Times from 1989. In conversations I have had with other athletes from that era there is a genuine belief that several big names were using P.E.D.s - as far as proof 25 years later, what do you think? Even where there is proof such as with the East German women and marathoner Cierpinski, their records and medals still stand. And... go ahead and spend 10-15 hours or more in the interview process with zero compensation and then get back on here and complain about those of us who work hard to give back to the running community.
Track and Field / Randy Harvey
DeBus Speaks Out, Also Has Gotten Out
April 14, 1989|Randy HarveyIn various press reports and hearings conducted by two governments, the Los Angeles Track Club's Chuck DeBus has been portrayed as the Charlie Francis of the United States, an ambitious coach who tried to convince his athletes that they could not be competitive at the international level unless they used anabolic steroids and other banned substances.
DeBus initially denied the charges, then stopped returning telephone calls when The Athletics Congress (TAC), which governs track and field in the United States, announced that it would investigate him. But he broke his silence long enough this week to issue this statement:
"I have coached many American and world-record holders who have never even experimented with banned substances and are willing to step forward and confirm this under penalty of perjury.
"Every coach, including me, has had discussions with athletes concerning the pros and cons of using banned substances. I have never urged any athlete to use banned substances and certainly have never and would never personally provide them to an athlete.
"Of course, I cannot rule out the possibility that some athletes may have taken them on their own when their very human dreams exceeded their God-given abilities."
The most recent charges appeared eight days ago in USA Today, which quoted Skip Stolley, a coach who has worked with DeBus, as calling his former colleague "Satan with a stopwatch."
Miler Steve Scott told the newspaper that his brief association with DeBus in 1987 ended after only a few weeks because of the coach's increasing pressure on him to use drugs. But another former DeBus athlete, 1988 Olympic bronze medalist Kim Gallagher, a half-miler, described the coach as a "good guy and a caring person."
DeBus previously was implicated in both the Canadian government's inquiry into drug use by athletes and the steroid hearings conducted by Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.). TAC's investigation was in response to former DeBus sprinter Diane Williams' allegation that she used steroids after encouragement from the coach.
Whether TAC determines that DeBus is guilty or innocent, it is not likely to have much impact on DeBus. Even before the allegations, he was spending an increasing amount of time in the television and movie industry.