From: xiong@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Bo Xiong)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
Subject: FWD: New York Times - Thompson Is Angered by Drug-Test Policies
Date: 29 Jul 92 05:35:18 GMT
Organization: Indiana University

This is a forwarding, standard SCC disclaimer applies here.

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From: ****@*****.***.edu 
Source: The New York Times, July 28, 1992

                 Thompson Is Angered by Drug-Test Policies 

Barcelona, Spain, July 27 - It got much worse for Jenny Thompson today, and
the United States swimmer implied that drug-testing policies were a reason
for her early Olympic heartbreak.

After failing to qualify for the finals in the 200-meter freestyle, Thompson
held an impromptu pool-side news conference. She hinted that random
drug-testing procedures by FINA, swimming's governing body, might have cost
her a shot at two gold medals, one Sunday because the wrong swimmer -
herself - was tested after the 100-meter freestyle, and another today in the
200 because of the drain of the testing process.

"All gold medalists should be drug-tested," Thompson said. "I'm not making
any accusations. I don't really know, so I can't make judgements. But in a
meet like this where the winner takes all, there should be tests."

Thompson lost the 100-meter freestyle, her specially and world-record event,
on Sunday night when she finished second to Zhuang Yong of China. Zhuang,
along with other swimmers from her nation, has been the subject of rumors
about the use of performance-enhancing drugs. After her victory in the
100-meter race, Zhuang confronted and denied the accusations at a news
conference.

Unlike most other sports at the Olympics, where all medalists are tested,
swimming officials test only two competitors from the top four finishers, at
random, unless a world record is set.

Thompson was chosen for the random testing on Sunday night, instead of
Zhuang. Thompson said she rushed off for testing before warming down, and
that her muscles  then tightened, contributing to her failure Monday morning
in the 200-meter heat.

Allen Richardson, a member of the FINA medical committee, said today that
Thompson had little reason to complain. "It's in the contract she signed
that she does not have to come right away," Richardson said. "It was
explained to her. She was just upset."

But Prince Alexandre de Merode, chairman of the International Olympic
Committee's medical commission, which has been at odds with FINA on this
subject, said that Zhuang's case had called the system into question.

"Unfortunately, the gold medalist was not tested on the first day," he said.
"It opens the door for criticism. If you start with testing the gold
medalist, no one will say anything."

The testing policy, ironically, is the result of much lobbying by the United
States swimming officials, who were tired of having their medalists tested
repetitively during their domination in the 1970's.

Thompson, ranked second in the 200-meter event behind Nicole Haislett,
finished fifth in the her heat, 12th over all, with a shockingly slow time
of 2:01.7

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Forwarded to SCC by Bo Xiong in Chicago
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china