There is an article on a Brasilian website that says that there were many former Olympic athletes that failed drug tests over the years, however the USOC ignored the tests and allowed the athletes to compete anyway. Among them are Carl Lewis and Alexi Lalas. The revelation was made by Wade Exum, director of drug control of the USOC from 1991 to 2000. A full report will be available in the April 21st issue of Sports Illustrated. http://esporte.uol.com.br/atletismo/ultimas/2003/04/17/ult66u1618.jhtm "Até o folclórico Alexi Lalas, da seleção de futebol dos EUA, foi flagrado no exame. Em 1992, foi encontrado alto índice de testosterona epitetosterone ratio no exame do zagueiro. A testosterona, hormônio masculino, é encontrado, na forma sintética, em esteróides anabólicos. Lalas jogou pelos EUA em Barcelona." Even the folkloric Alexi Lalas, of the US National Soccer Team failed the exam. In 1992 a high level of the testosterone epitestosterone was found in the fullback's test. The testosterone, masculine hormone, is found, in its synthetic form, in anabolic steroids. Lalas palyed for the US in Barcelona. If this is indeed true, does this reflect negatively on Alexi Lalas? US Soccer? Does this matter?
Here's the online version of the SI article in English http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_online/scorecard/news/2003/04/15/sc/ Alexi Lalas. In '92 the soccer star was found to have an elevated ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone, which can indicate steroid use. Nevertheless, Lalas was allowed to compete at the '92 Olympics. Though Lalas could not be reached, his agent, Richard Motzkin, says the positive was "a onetime blip" not caused by steroid use.
Same report appeared in the Irish Times, which has been hammering Lewis for days, probably to exorcise the Michelle Smith doping scandal of the 1996 Olympics.
if Lalas took steroids, he took the wrong ones! He was probably taking corticosterone, which when overdosed causes fatness, and loss of muscle mass.
As a Revs fan, I've heard plenty of stories about Alexi and substances other than gatorade, but none of them could be considered performance-enhancing (unless you are in Phish).
Some types of steriods have the side effect of causing guys to sprout breasts. Any one seen Alexi without a shirt? What's his cup size?
There are lots of reasons why a "false positive" can occur on a drug test--especially in 1992 when the science of performance-enhancing drug testing was not as well understood. There are long lists of both prescription and OTC medications that can trigger a positive result (not to mention a lab mistake on the test itself)--thus one of the reasons why they did not result in automatic sanctions. I'd be a lot more concerned if there were two positive results taken a couple of months apart. OTOH: Perhaps there was a cover-up... but, I'd say that it is far more likely that the tests themselves were flawed.