Drug Tests

Floyd Mayweather Jr. wants Manny Pacquiao to submit to Olympic-style drug tests, including a blood test within days of their tentatively scheduled March 13 bout, and failing to agree to these terms could threaten the fight, Mayweather's camp said Tuesday. Pacquiao has expressed reluctance to submit to a blood test within 30 days of the proposed world welterweight title fight, which will be staged at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. "As management for Floyd, we're insisting this Olympic-style, random [blood]

There was a lectern set up behind home plate at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, just as it was nine months ago, when Manny Ramirez was ceremoniously introduced to Los Angeles. Only this time, Dodgers Manager Joe Torre was standing there, looking into a wall of television cameras and recalling how Ramirez sounded "devastated" when they spoke earlier in the day. General Manager Ned Colletti said he felt "sick and saddened."

Weighing fears of a drug epidemic against civil liberties, school district trustees in Modoc County abandoned the idea Tuesday of requiring annual drug tests of all high school students. Instead, the Modoc Joint Unified School District board will renew efforts to train teachers to spot teens on narcotics and bolster the high school's anti-drug education program. The board also signaled during its 4-0 vote that it has no intention of revisiting the issue, even after the U.S.

First, it was Tiger Woods calling for a crackdown on illegal clubs. Now, Greg Norman wants all golfers to be subjected to random drug testing. While stressing that he doesn't think illegal substances are being used, Norman said Tuesday that testing would eliminate any lingering doubts that long-hitting players are pumping up pharmaceutically. "Because of the peak performance these athletes are trying to get into, are they using performance-enhancing drugs?" he asked.

Shamefully, the use of illicit drugs in this country supports a multibillion-dollar criminal empire ruled by drug lords, and that generally accepted fact is bad enough. But the Bush Administration, in its zeal to attack the problem, has repeatedly exaggerated and misused statistics about drug use in the workplace and its financial impact. The hype is leading to a major increase in testing that is not highly reliable.

The International Olympic Committee said Monday it will review its drug-testing procedures in order to discourage civil law suits by athletes suspended for doping violations. The decision by the IOC executive board came days after a U.S. judge awarded $27.3 million to Butch Reynolds in his dispute with the IAAF, track and field's world governing body.

Results of Russian distance runner Olga Yegorova's second drug test were not completed Thursday, putting on hold a threat by defending 5,000-meter world champion Gabriela Szabo to drop out of the race at the World Championships if Yegorova competes. Yegorova tested positive for erythropoietin in Paris July 6. The drug, primarily used by athletes in endurance sports, stimulates the production of oxygen-enriched red blood cells. According to rules of the International Assn.

An estimated 30,000 Transportation Department employees have been sent notices that they are subject to random drug tests in 30 days, Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole said. With the notices, the department becomes the first Cabinet agency to implement President Reagan's executive order last September mandating random drug tests for government workers in "sensitive" or safety-related jobs.

The Men's International Professional Tennis Council will conduct drug tests on all male players at Wimbledon this year, council chairman Michael Davies said. Also, the directors and staff of the MIPTC and the Assn. of Tennis Professionals will be tested. Random tests of tournament umpires and referees will also be carried out, Davies said. The results are confidential, and the penalty for a positive result is mandatory treatment.