And Now, Gold for Lawyers

By Robert Sullivan

No one knew if Marion Jones would win five, if the U.S. would rule the pool, if the sun would shine at Bondi. But heading into Sydney, everyone knew drugs would have a big impact on the Games. Did they ever. The news that C.J. Hunter--a sidelined shot putter who is much better known as Jones' husband--had recently tested positive for steroids, became an overshadowing story. Hunter, a 320-pounder who usually avoids the media like a diet, summoned the press to assert, tears flowing, that he would never do anything to hurt his wife. But if he took nandrolone intentionally, he sure wasn't thinking about what might happen to her, to him, to their bank account. And if he took the drug, did his wife know? Could America's golden girl be a hypocrite? Jones has long been outspoken against drug use in her sport.

Hunter's stance is that he ingested nutritional supplements that had somehow become tainted, boosting his nandro level to 1,000 times the allowable limit. The scorn greeting this claim was as deep as Sydney harbor. "Impossible," said the International Olympic Committee's Jacques Rogge. "The only way to have such levels is either by injection or taking pills." Even if Rogge is correct, Hunter may get off. His lawyer is Johnnie Cochran--yes, O.J.'s Johnnie Cochran--and Cochran will present Hunter's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, nine athletes were found guilty of drug use. On appeal, all but two verdicts were overturned.

Hunter's was not Sydney's only drug case, and his explanation wasn't even the most dubious. In competitions from race walking to hammer throwing, no fewer than three dozen athletes and coaches were removed for using or supplying banned substances. Dozens more had been pulled from the Games before opening ceremonies because they would have been nailed, and uncounted others were taking human growth hormones and other illicit substances for which no tests were administered.

Among those who tested positive for banned substances were Latvian rower Andris Reinholds, who said his nandrolone came from a Chinese herbal supplement, and German runner Dieter Baumann, who alleged that a rival had spiked his toothpaste with steroids. Baumann got the silver in Excuses (heavyweight class). Gold went to Uzbekistan track coach Sergei Voynov, who claimed he had brought a large quantity of growth hormone into the country to help with his hair loss.

The I.O.C. came down harshest on 16-year-old Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan, who forfeited a gold medal after being given a cold medicine by the team doctor. "We have applied the law," said I.O.C. director general Francois Carrard. "In the fight against doping we have to be tough and refrain from emotions and feelings." Crackdowns are seldom pretty.

--R.S.