World sports court rules against Young

U.S. sprinter Jerome Young should be stripped of his Sydney Olympics relay gold for flunking a steroid test in 1999, the world's top sports court ruled Tuesday in a case that pitted U.S. track officials against their international counterparts.

Now, world sports officials must decide whether Young's relay teammates -- including Michael Johnson -- also should forfeit their medals.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport, which found Young guilty of doping, was not asked to rule on his relay teammates. But the panel said it "does not necessarily accept that, in the unusual circumstances of the present case, this consequence must follow."

Young tested positive for the steroid nandrolone in 1999 and was suspended from competition. But he was exonerated -- avoiding a two-year ban -- when a USA Track & Field appeals panel ruled that a clean test taken six days after the positive test raised a "reasonable doubt."

Young, the reigning 400-meter world champion, reiterated Tuesday that he has "never taken a prohibited substance."

"I am disappointed with the decision," Young said in a statement released by his attorney, Stephen Chien. "I believe that today's CAS decision is fundamentally unfair -- I was exonerated in 2000 by a panel of three independent and objective arbitrators who considered the evidence before it and concluded that USA Track & Field failed to prove its case against me."

Chien said he could not comment on whether Young plans to compete in the 400 at the U.S. Olympic trials in Sacramento, Calif., that begin next weekend.

After years of refusing to provide details on the case to international sports officials, USATF officials acknowledged for the first time in February that Young had tested positive in 1999 and agreed to hand over key documents.

USATF officials said confidentiality rules blocked them from releasing the information before this year. But some international sports officials accused the USATF of protecting drug cheats.

The case also led to tensions between the USATF and the U.S. Olympic Committee, which last fall threatened to begin decertification proceedings against the track federation if it did not provide world sports officials with documents pertaining to Young.

"Under the anti-doping program administered by the United States Anti-Doping Agency now in place, a situation like this will never arise again," USOC chief executive Jim Scherr said in a statement.

The Swiss-based arbitration court, in a ruling that is final and cannot be appealed, said Young should have been banned from June 26, 1999, until June 25, 2001 -- making him ineligible for the 2000 Olympics.