Runner blasts officials, athletes

Olympic runner Michael Stember decried drug testers, sports officials and fellow athletes Wednesday in a scathing critique at a time of one of the biggest drug scandals in history.

The former Stanford standout said track and field is in a cycle of dishonesty where athletes take illegal drugs without getting caught. Or when they do test positive, Stember said, officials don't always expose them.

Stember, who is running Friday at the world indoor track and field championships, was responding to the federal investigation of Balco Laboratories, the Burlingame nutritional company at the center of the scandal. The Feb. 12 indictments of four Bay Area men on charges of conspiring to distribute banned drugs to elite athletes has created a groundswell of criticism from people inside sports.

Stember, 26, of Menlo Park, saved his frustration for his sport and fellow competitors -- many of whom have no connection to the controversy.

``I'm so happy some of these Kenyans are finally getting caught,'' Stember said from Budapest, Hungary, where he is entered in the 800 meters. ``Everybody assumed they come out of the mountains and are the purists of the sport. I have a hard time believing Bernard Legat didn't know he was taking it.''

Legat, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 1,500-meter run, tested positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO at the world outdoor championships last summer. He was exonerated because his ``B'' sample did not match the results of the ``A'' specimen. Legat was one of two high-profile Kenyan runners who tested positive for EPO last year.

Legat's agent, James Templeton, could not be reached because of the time difference in Europe. But he said after Legat tested positive: ``We are both aware that slurs about drug-taking can damage an athlete's reputation, even after an athlete has been proven innocent.''

Stember was unapologetic in his view of a runner he would probably have to defeat to win a medal in Athens this summer.

``There is a reason for a guy who went from Washington State and barely beating me to running'' 3 minutes, 26 seconds in the 1,500 after that, said Stember, who trains with the Palo Alto-based Farm Team.

``Then he gets busted, and he is cleared. It's an injustice. I don't know what kind of politics took place. It is going to perpetuate the problem. People are not willing to step up to the plate and clean up the sport.''

Stember, who has changed his priorities this year to focus on the 800, welcomed the negative publicity from the Balco case.

``Unfortunately it took a random occurrence to bust it open,'' he said of the unidentified track coach who gave the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency a syringe laced with the previously undetectable steroid THG. Five track athletes and four Raiders players tested positive for the drug last year.

How THG was discovered leaves Stember to believe more illicit activity is occurring under the noses of drug testers and sports officials, and he is frustrated that more isn't done to stop it.

``Disguise yourself,'' he suggested to drug testers. ``Go undercover. There are all sorts of ways to be a detective. If they did this, they would have a lot more THGs on their banned list.

``On the other end, you are more frustrated with the political corruption that takes place with people that just let it slide. The figureheads have been turning their backs for a long time -- just like in baseball.''

But with so much attention on the Balco case, Stember said the attitudes might be changing. He sees an opportunity to win a medal at the 2004 Olympics, where the times could slow, he said, because runners stop using drugs for fear of getting caught.

Stember hopes to qualify in the 800 and 1,500 -- a rare feat for an American runner -- at the U.S. trials in July in his hometown of Sacramento. It wasn't long ago that he doubted if he could return to the Olympics after his amazing rise four years ago. As a Stanford senior, he helped the Cardinal win an NCAA championship, then qualified for the Sydney Games with college teammate Gabe Jennings.

Both Cardinal runners faded from the international scene after that, and each is forging a comeback. Stember won his first national title last week at the U.S. indoor championships.

He began to question himself last summer in Italy after placing 16th in an 800 race. Stember and Coach Frank Gagliano had tearful telephone conversations.

``We were at our wit's ends,'' Stember said.

But on the way home, something changed. Stember stopped in the Dominican Republic to compete at the Pan American Games. With more than a week's rest, he won a silver medal.

Stember realized that racing is nothing more than a physical test and that he must train on his terms. After three years of intense workouts, he decided to scale back.

No more leg presses of 1,100 pounds. No more jumping rope like a boxer in between lifting. He reduced his mileage, which had climbed to 85 miles a week.

``It was a death wish,'' Stember said of his previous regimen.