Cloud Hangs Over Trials

SACRAMENTO — And in other track and field news ...

American athletes are hurdling high, jumping far and running fast enough to make the Olympic trials memorable for reasons other than the turmoil caused by the BALCO scandal.

Even in the men's 1,500, a distance at which no American athlete has won an Olympic medal since Jim Ryun finished second at Mexico City in 1968, there's hope for a landmark performance as the trials begin today at Hornet Stadium on the Cal State Sacramento campus.

That optimism has been generated by Alan Webb, who broke Ryun's long-standing high-school mile record three years ago and has the world's fastest mile time this season, 3 minutes 50.85 seconds. Webb, who left the University of Michigan after one season to train at home in Reston, Va., has whittled his personal best in the 1,500 -- the "metric mile" -- five times this season, to 3:32.73. And he's hoping to do it again here.

"The meet is a huge, huge step in my career," he said. "Making the Olympic team has been a goal of mine since I started sports when I was 6 years old. That would mean more to me than just about anything else I could accomplish in track ...

"It's a big responsibility to have to go out and perform with such a big title on the line -- United States Olympian. That's something nobody can ever take away from you."

The top three finishers who have met the Olympic "A" standard in their respective events will be nominated to the Olympic team. If a fourth finisher has met the "A" standard, that person will be designated an alternate.

The makeup of the U.S. team probably won't be determined until the last moment because of the allegations of suspected drug use leveled by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency against 100-meter world record holder Tim Montgomery and fellow sprinters Chryste Gaines, Alvin Harrison and Michelle Collins. USADA has told them it will seek to ban them for life, based on evidence gathered during a federal investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO. All have entered the trials.

Marion Jones, apparently on the path that brought her five medals at Sydney -- she's entered in the 100, 200 and long jump at the trials -- remains under investigation by USADA but has not been charged with drug use. She will begin competition today with the quarterfinal round of the 100. The qualifying round of the women's 100 was canceled because not enough entrants met the "A" or "B" standards.