| | ESPN.com news services
LONDON -- Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor
tested positive for cocaine at least once since he was
caught at last year's Pan American Games, senior International
Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) vice-president Arne
Ljungqvist said on Friday.
"I know there was at least one positive test and possibly
two," Ljungqvist said by telephone from Stockholm. "There was
definitely one out-of-competition positive test."
World record holder Sotomayor, who was cleared to compete in next
month's Sydney Olympics by the IAAF council at an emergency
meeting in Monaco on Wednesday, strongly denied the allegation.
"Of course it is false, it is totally false," a vehement
Sotomayor said after learning of Ljungqvist's comments.
"Behind this, there is someone who wants to do me harm. We
see bad intentions," Sotomayor said in a telephone
conversation from his home in Havana before heading out for
daily training.
The council agreed to half his two-year ban imposed from
July 31, 1999 after he tested positive for the recreational drug
at the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, Canada.
Sotomayor, 32, was the 1992 Barcelona Olympic champion and
has twice won the world title.
The council made its decision under its "exceptional
circumstances" clause.
"We thought this athlete deserved a lot of our support,"
IAAF president Lamine Diack said on Wednesday. "We said we can
give him the possibility to compete again. He is a human being,
he made a mistake."
Sotomayor received a standing ovation in Havana on Wednesday
from a crowd including President Fidel Castro after the
unexpected IAAF announcement.
"I feel happy with this decision but not completely
satisfied," he said Wednesday. "In the end, what I want is to clean my
image, but they have given me the possibility to compete in
Sydney."
He thanked the IAAF for clearing him to compete in Sydney
but promised that "for me the fight is not over."
Ljungqvist, who is head of the IAAF's medical committee and
a member of the International Olympic Committee, said he was
unhappy with the council's decision to reduce Sotomayor's ban.
"For me it was a decision against our rules," he said. "I
disassociated myself from the decision."
"It scares me a bit that he is making these declarations at
this time," Sotomayor said. "He really doesn't have any right."
Nevertheless, Sotomayor said he would try to ignore the latest
accusation and concentrate on training in hopes of winning another
gold medal.
Sotomayor is considered a favorite in Sydney even though he
has been unable to compete recently. He is the only man to jump 8 feet. | |
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