The IOC wants more information from the US Olympic Committee but will not formally investigate doping allegations involving Carl Lewis and other American athletes. The IOC executive board heard a report yesterday from the USOC’s general council, Jeff Benz, on the committee’s handling of drug tests before the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Benz said the USOC acted properly in clearing Lewis and Joe Deloach to compete in Seoul despite alleged positive tests for stimulants at the US Olympic track and field trials. After the closed-door meeting, IOC president Jacques Rogge said he will ask acting USOC president Bill Martin for more “general information” on the committee’s anti-doping practices. The IOC will examine the issue again at its next meeting in late June and early July in Prague, Czech Republic. “There are allegations that have circulated for a long time,” Rogge said. “These allegations have induced a suspicion. We think that this is an ideal opportunity for the United States Olympic Committee to dispel any suspicion and/or allegations by just telling what they have done.” IOC Director General Francois Carrard stressed the IOC was only interested in learning from any past mistakes and would not consider any sanctions against the USOC or athletes. “We want to know if there was a more general practice how it worked, what was done,” he said. “But we’re not into a police investigation or anything like that. There is always a lesson to learn from what was done in the past, particularly if it had a systematic intent. But we are not contemplating any punitive action.” According to documents released recently by Dr Wade Exum, USOC’s former director for drug control, US athletes tested positive for drugs more than 100 times from 1988 to 2000. Only a handful were barred from competing; 19 went on to win medals. Exum said Lewis, a nine-time Olympic champion, tested positive three times at the 1988 Olympic trials for small amounts of banned stimulants found in cold medicine. The USOC first disqualified Lewis, then reversed itself after he appealed, claiming inadvertent use. The documents showed Deloach and Andre Phillips also were cleared after testing positive for stimulants. Lewis, Deloach and Phillips all won gold medals in Seoul.
