Posted: July 15, 2004

Athletics: Edwards Tests Positive For Stimulant, Olympic Status Uncertain

By Bob Ramsak, Track Profile

(c) 2004 Track Profile all rights reserved TrackProfile.com

Torri Edwards, the world 100m champion and runner-up in the short dash at the U.S. Olympic Trials, has tested positive for a banned stimulant, the IAAF, the sport's international governing body confirmed today.

Edwards tested positive for the stimulant nikethamide at a meeting in Fort-de-France, Martinique, on April 24. Penalties for the use of a stimulant range from a public warning to a two-year ban, which could bar the 27-year-old from competing at next month's Olympic Games.

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies told the BBC that both of the sprinter's "A and B samples have tested positive." Edwards, who begins competition in the 200 on Friday, will face a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency hearing on Monday which will ultimately decide her fate.

Nikethamide is a respiratory and cardiovascular stimulant which acts primarily on the central nervous system, and was formerly used in the treatment of barbiturate overdose. A Reuters report, citing an unidentified source, said that Edwards had inadvertently taken a form of glucose that unknowingly contained nikethamide.

The announcement couldn't have come at a worst time for the sport in the United States. More than 1,000 reporters are covering the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, with the topic of performance-enhancing drugs dominating the headlines. Edwards was awarded the 2003 World Championships gold medal for the 100 and silver medal for the 200 when double winner Kelli White was disqualified and suspended after admitting she had used performance-enhancing drugs. Edwards however, was never linked or identified with the ongoing federal investigation probing California's BALCO lab, the source of the previously-unidentified steroid, THG, strongly suggesting that her positive test is an entirely separate incident.

Last December, Edwards told TPR that she agreed in principle with a USATF proposal that would issue a lifetime ban for first-time steroid use, but also expressed her worries about the negative publicity that began to dominate track and field last fall when news of the BALCO scandal broke.

"No, I don't think it's as bad as it's made out to be," she said, referring to the perception that track is a "dirty" sport. "I think they need to focus more on people who are doing the right thing, and are working hard, and are accomplishing the goals that they've set out to accomplish. I think they are focusing too much on the negative. I think that it is a select few people who are taking drugs. I think they're making it out to be the whole USA track and field, but it's not." [For more with Edwards, see TPR #76.]

The TRACK PROFILE REPORT is a news and feature service published by the Track Profile News Service. In addition to regularly dispatched news, profile and interview features, subscribers also receive exclusive on-site updates from major national and international competitions, usually within 24 hours. Copyright (c) 2004 by Bob Ramsak and TRACK PROFILE. All rights reserved. Reproduction, republication, reposting and retransmission in ANY form is strictly prohibited without express permission from the editor.