Eddy Borysewicz

The American cycling euphoria of '84, brought on by European-sized crowds who watched as United States riders reaped an unprecedented Olympic harvest, has cooled somewhat in the year that followed. Nine medals, four of them gold, were the first won by the United States since 1912. However, five of the medal winners, including individual pursuit champion Steve Hegg of Dana Point, later were revealed to have participated in a practice called "blood doping." The incident, which more correctly should be called "blood packing," was more of an embarrassment than anything else.

The man on a motorcycle plays Pied Piper to a single-file line of bicyclists, pacing their morning workout at the San Diego Velodrome. As he circles the track, lap after lap, his face maintains its expression. He is content, in his element. It is an idyllic scene, a rare moment of tranquility in the life and times of Eddy B. For 11 years, Eddy Borysewicz, 49, served as director of the U.S. national cycling team. It was a stormy, sometimes controversial, tenure. And a tremendously successful one.

The man on a motorcycle plays Pied Piper to a single-file line of bicyclists, pacing their morning workout at the San Diego Velodrome. As he circles the track, lap after lap, his face maintains its expression. He is content, in his element. It is an idyllic scene, a rare moment of tranquility in the life and times of Eddy B. For 11 years, Eddy Borysewicz, 49, served as director of the U.S. national cycling team. It was a stormy, sometimes controversial, tenure. And a tremendously successful one.

The American cycling euphoria of '84, brought on by European-sized crowds who watched as United States riders reaped an unprecedented Olympic harvest, has cooled somewhat in the year that followed. Nine medals, four of them gold, were the first won by the United States since 1912. However, five of the medal winners, including individual pursuit champion Steve Hegg of Dana Point, later were revealed to have participated in a practice called "blood doping." The incident, which more correctly should be called "blood packing," was more of an embarrassment than anything else.

U.S. Olympic cycling coach Eddy Borysewicz and one of his gold medalists, Alexi Grewal, disagreed Monday about who was responsible for the controversial blood doping transfusions of a third of the 24-member American cycling team. Grewal, who passed up transfusions, said that Borysewicz had been primarily responsible for them. Borysewicz said he merely had told his cyclists that the transfusions were not illegal and would be helpful in increasing their stamina.

As cyclists from all over the world pedal around the track at Moscow's Olympic velodrome this week, one guy in the pack will stand out because he's barely larger than his bike. David Brinton will represent the United States in the one-kilometer individual race at the Goodwill Games, which begin today. And, at 5-9 and 137 pounds, he's the Spud Webb of cyclists. Sprinters are normally about 200 pounds and bulked with muscles because it's easier for them to accelerate.

The U.S. Cycling Federation prohibited blood doping Friday, becoming the first national sports federation either in the United States or abroad to move beyond deploring the practice of transfusions to a formal ban against them. The cycling group, meeting at Colorado Springs, Colo., set penalties of 30 days suspension from competition for a first offense, 180 days for a second and indefinite suspension for a third.

The physician reported to have given blood doping transfusions last summer to a third of the 24-member U.S. Olympic cycling team--including five medal winners--said Friday he had done nothing "illegal or unethical or detrimental to any athlete." Dr. Herman Falsetti, a University of Iowa heart specialist who also has a home in Laguna Beach and is licensed to practice in California, said: "I know of no Olympic rules that would prohibit (blood doping).

Eddy Borysewicz, coach of the U.S. men's cycling team, was asked to assess the cycling ability of John Moffet. "I am sorry. I do not know him. Who?" John Moffet. Olympic swimmer. Had a world record in the breaststroke. Just graduated from Stanford. He's in Colorado Springs, Colo., right now, riding a bike at your national training camp. He's . . . "Oh, yes. Now I know him. Yes. Very nice man. Interesting man. Very good body. Very good potential. But the switch from swimming is not overnight.

These are dark, angry days for Eddy Borysewicz, suspended by the United States Cycling Federation for 30 days as coach of the Olympic cycling team for his role in the blood doping of eight team members last summer.

"Coaches and athletes exchange information and sell the drugs. The drug traffic going on can be compared to heroin, with coaches and athletes the couriers." --Prince Alexandre de Merode, chairman of the International Olympic Committee's Medical Commission. Investigations following positive dope tests on athletes show that a drug trafficking network exists in Olympic sport on a world-wide scale, the chairman of the Medical Commission of the International Olympic Committee says.

The first thing you notice when you look at bike racer Jane Eickhoff is her legs. What a pair of gams. But the 16-year-old is no lanky poster girl. She's built more like Bo Diaz than Bo Derek. The junior U.S. cycling champion has the young, freckled countenance of a Girl Scout. You'd never guess she had the leg muscles of a linebacker. In slightly more than one year of racing, Eickhoff has become the fastest-rising and perhaps the best young female cyclist in the country.