U.S. Olympic officials want to field drug-free team

The USOC is pleading with federal authorities for help to expose drug-cheaters.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Exactly 108 days before the start of the Athens Games, U.S. Olympic officials are pleading with federal authorities for help in trying to make sure no drug cheaters qualify for the American team.
"We're concerned first that we have a clean team participating in the games. Secondly, we are concerned we have a team that is free of speculation about whether it is clean in these games," U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive Jim Scherr said.
"And we do not want any lingering suspicions or positive tests coming out of the games."
The USOC is not just targeting athletes who have failed drug tests. Instead, officials hope to utilize a clause in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's rules to bar athletes who acknowledge the use of steroids and other banned substances, including in grand jury testimony.
Authority
Section 9 of the USADA's protocol gives that agency the authority to bring a drug case against an athlete in lieu of a positive drug test "when USADA has other reason to believe that a potential doping violation has occurred, such as admitted doping."
"Our image is going to be just fine if we send a clean team," acting USOC president Bill Martin said. "The last thing we want to happen is to select the wrong folks.
"America does not want to send a dirty team to Athens, but the ball's not in our hands right now. Time is truly of the essence."
Martin and Scherr want the USADA to get access to grand jury transcripts in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative case involving the alleged distribution of steroids to top athletes.
While such grand jury proceedings are secret by law, the Senate Commerce Committee chaired by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has issued a subpoena for the BALCO testimony.
Could override provision
That could override the secrecy provision, according to Rory Little, a Hastings College of the Law scholar and a former federal prosecutor in San Francisco.
Little said it would be "highly unusual for the Department of Justice to be giving up grand jury material in the middle of an investigation." But even if the Justice Department challenged such a subpoena, Little said, a court could order that such documents be released.
Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said Monday he doesn't know whether any material has been turned over to McCain's committee. Rebecca Hanks, a spokeswoman for McCain, declined to comment.
According to an AP poll released Monday, 92 percent of Americans believe the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs by Olympic athletes is a problem.
Forty-three percent of those responding to the survey called it a major problem; another 49 percent see it as a minor problem. Only 6 percent don't consider it a problem.
Craig Masback, the head of USA Track & amp; Field, hopes evidence of any drug use is unveiled as quickly as possible "so that the guilty will be punished and the innocent will be cleared of suspicion."
"That is all we can do," Masback said. "We did not do the tests, we did not test the samples. We did not do the federal investigation, we do not have the affidavits, we were not in the grand jury."
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