WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has sent letters to five track athletes notifying them of potential drug violations, the Washington Post said Wednesday.
Sources told the newspaper the recipients were 100-meter world record holder Tim Montgomery, Ukrainian sprinter Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, U.S. sprinter Chryste Gaines, and U.S. 400-meter runners Michelle Collins and Alvin Harrison.
The cases are unusual in that none of the athletes notified of potential charges has tested positive for a banned substance. All are under investigation based on evidence obtained from a federal raid of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative last fall in Burlingame, Calif.
The lengthy letters included dozens of pages of attachments that described the potential charges citing, at least in some cases, evidence of use of a host of banned drugs including testosterone, norbolethone, THG, trenbolone, modafinil and erythropoietin, a source said.
If the USADA formally charges the U.S. athletes, they will be free to compete in the United States pending the resolution of their cases via arbitration. However, the International Association of Athletics Federation might use its power to provisionally suspend athletes from international competition, IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said.
