SAN JOSE, California - Former US Olympic Committee drug-test director Wade Exum says the organization has a list of all American athletes who tested positive from 1985 to 2000 and he wants a copy.
The San Jose Mercury News reported Thursday that Exum, in a lawsuit against the USOC, has subpoenaed the document, the existence of which has never been confirmed but could shed light on his claims of US cover-ups of positives.
Exum, now based in Las Vegas, resigned his post as USOC Drug Control Administration director in 2000 after a decade on the job.
However his attempt to see the document has been criticised as self-serving.
"This appears to be nothing more than an attempt by Dr. Exum to resurrect his twice-dismissed lawsuit," USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel told the newspaper.
Exum's lawsuit claims the USOC covered up positives so elite athletes could compete in the Olympics, but gave no evidence to support the accusation, first raised in 2000 in a federal discrimination lawsuit that was dismissed twice, most recently by an appeals court last month.
A former drug test manager mentioned the list in a 2003 letter to Exum. One of the subpoenas claims the list is nearly 150 pages.
A law firm investigated USOC drug coverup claims in 2003 and found no such list. Their report was given to the International Olympic Committee which ruled the USOC properly handled most cases.
"Given the exhaustive study of our anti-doping records from 1985 to 2000 that was done, one would think if such a document existed it would have surfaced during that review," Seibel told the Mercury News.
Seibel claimed Exum took USOC documents when he departed but Exum denied that, saying, "Don't you think, if I were going to take documents unauthorized by the USOC, that would be the number one document I would take?"
Noting the lack of independent oversight during the pre-US Anti-Doping Agency era, Exum added: "Why should I have to take documents if the system was transparent?"
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is considering a case involving US 400-meter runner Jerome Young, who tested positive for nandrolone in 1999 but competed on the US gold medal 4x400m relay at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The team could be stripped of the gold medal due to the involvement of Young, allowed to run after a successful appeal to US officials.

04/28/2005 15:53 GMT