Report: Landis’ test shows synthetic help
Tests performed on Floyd Landis’ initial urine sample showed that some of the testosterone in his body came from an external source and was not naturally produced by his system, according to a person at the International Cycling Union with knowledge of the results.
That finding contradicts what Landis has said in his defense since the disclosure last week that he tested positive for an elevated ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone after his decisive performance in Stage 17 of the Tour de France.
Landis won that stage in the Alps and improbably climbed to third place overall after he had struggled and plunged to 11th the day before. He went on to claim the Tour title.
During a news conference in Madrid, Spain, on Friday, Landis said: “We will explain to the world why this is not a doping case, but a natural occurrence.”
But the French national anti-doping laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry performed a carbon isotope ratio test on the first of Landis’ two urine samples provided after Stage 17 of the Tour, said the person, who works in UCI’s anti-doping department. That test was done after Landis’ ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone was found to be more than twice that allowed under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, the person said. The rules limit the ratio to 4-to-1. The normal range is between 1-to-1 and 2-to-1.
Landis’ personal doctor, Dr. Brent Kay of Temecula, Calif., acknowledged that the test found a ratio of 11-to-1 in Landis’ system. He and Landis are seeking an explanation for that high level.
“I’ve seen bodybuilders with numbers 100-to-1,” Kay said. “Although Floyd’s was elevated, it’s not off the chart or anything.”
The carbon isotope test examines the testosterone and determines whether it is natural or synthetic. The test found that Landis had synthetic testosterone in his body, the person from the cycling union said.
The urine sample Landis provided after Stage 17 was divided into two samples, an A and a B. Landis received the test results of the A sample last Wednesday, and he had five business days to request an analysis of the B sample. Confirmation of the A sample result is needed for any doping violation to occur. If the B sample comes up negative, the case is dropped.
Michael Henson, who is Landis’ spokesman, said that Landis sent a signed request on Monday to the French lab to seek the analysis of his B sample.
Jose Maria Buxeda, one of Landis’ two Spanish lawyers, told The Associated Press that he had also sent a fax to UCI, the abbreviation used by the cycling union, on Monday to request that the B sample analysis go forward.
But Pat McQuaid, the president of UCI, said Monday night that the organization never received that request. He said UCI had contacted the French lab at 5 p.m. Paris time and that Landis’ request had not been received.
McQuaid said UCI then asked the lab to analyze Landis’ B sample, which he said was allowed under the organization’s rules, so the test could be concluded before the lab closed for a two-week vacation on Friday. If the tests cannot be finished before then, the results may not come until late August or early September, he said.
“It’s a two-and-a-half-day job and it’s imperative that the B test be done this week for the credibility of our sport, but also for the public interest,” McQuaid said. “We have to get this process done quickly, so we can move on.”
Milwaukee – The Milwaukee Bucks traded center Jamaal Magloire to the Portland Trail Blazers for guard Steve Blake, forward Brian Skinner and center Ha Seung-Jin on Monday.
“This trade allowed us to add depth to both our frontcourt and backcourt,” Bucks general manager Larry Harris said.
Blake, 26, played in 68 games for Portland last season and averaged 8.2 points per game, a career high. Skinner, 30, has averaged 5.2 points and 4.9 rebounds in 405 career games with six teams.
The acquisition of the 6-foot-11 Magloire, a former all-star, gives the Trail Blazers plenty of interior size. They already have 7-1 center Joel Przybilla and added 6-11 LaMarcus Aldridge on draft night.
“I really loved Steve Blake, but it was a situation where the organization felt we could get a really legit center, really strengthen our frontcourt,” Portland coach Nate McMillan said.
NBA
Wizards get week to match Jeffries deal
The offer sheet Jared Jeffries signed with the New York Knicks last week was officially sent to the Washington Wizards, who have a week to decide whether to match it.
The Knicks signed the 6-11, 240-pound Jeffries, a restricted free agent, last Friday night to an offer reportedly for about $30 million over five years.
The Chicago Bulls signed free agent Adrian Griffin, luring the seven-year veteran swingman back to the club from the Dallas Mavericks.
During the 2004-05 season, Griffin averaged 2.2 points and 2.1 rebounds for the Bulls in 69 games.
The Memphis Grizzlies signed guard Chucky Atkins to a one-year contract.
MOTORSPORTS
Yates cuts two crew chiefs
Robert Yates Racing released crew chiefs Tommy Baldwin and Slugger Labbe from their contracts.
Their dismissal comes at a chaotic time. Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler both are leaving at the end of the season, giving Yates two empty seats to fill and a lack of quality drivers to choose from.
Yates gave no reason for the crew chief departures, announcing only that Cully Barraclough would take over Sadler’s team and Butch Hylton will be in charge of Jarrett’s team beginning with this Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Baldwin was quickly snatched up by Bill Davis Racing, where he’ll be competition director and oversee the team’s switch to Toyotas in 2007.
COLLEGES
Tulsa extends football coach’s contract
Tulsa extended the contract of coach Steve Kragthorpe, a deal that runs through the 2011 season.
Kragthorpe led the Golden Hurricane to its first conference title in two decades last season and is 21-17 at Tulsa with two bowl appearances in three seasons.
Tulsa went 9-4 and won the Conference USA title in 2005 before beating Fresno State in the Liberty Bowl.
Texas Tech safety Anthony Hines was in satisfactory condition at a Lubbock, Texas, hospital, two days after his sister said he was stabbed in the abdomen during a fight at a nightclub. Hines’ sister, Laquisha Hines, told the Lubbock-Avalanche Journal her brother had emergency surgery to repair a pierced colon a few hours after the fight.
ROUNDUP
Germans set world swimming record
Germany set a world record of 3 minutes, 35.22 seconds in the women’s 400-meter freestyle relay at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The German swimmers were Petra Dallmann, Daniela Goetz, Britta Steffen and Annika Liebs.
Andy Roddick withdrew from the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, because of a strained back, but said the injury shouldn’t prevent him from being at full strength for the U.S. Open.
Al Balding, the first Canadian to win a PGA Tour event, has died of cancer Sunday in Mississauga, Ontario. He was 82.
Former Ohio State president Harold Enarson, who fired Woody Hayes after the football coach slugged an opposing player in a 1978 bowl game, died Friday in Port Townsend, Wash. He was 87.
