A little-known comeback by Utah's Henry Marsh may end before it starts due to a ruling by the The Athletics Congress, the U.S. track federation.
Marsh, an Olympic steeplechaser and U.S. recordholder in the event, confirmed a report in today's Chicago Tribune that TAC will announce that he will be suspended two years from competition for failing to report for a drug test.If upheld, it virtually precludes a planned comeback for the 1991 World Championships and the 1992 Olympics, since Marsh would not be eligible to compete again until April of 1992. Marsh, 36, last competed at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
"I wanted to keep it (the comeback) low key . . . I didn't want to be a Mark Spitz (who has announced he's coming out of retirement to try to make the 1992 Olympic swim team). If everything went well I would have competed next year," he said.
TAC contends Marsh acted irresponsibly in failing to make himself available for drug testing last December. Marsh says business commitments made it extremely difficult for him to do so.
Under TAC's out-of-competition drug-testing program, an athlete must make himself available for testing within 48 hours of receiving notice.
Marsh says that on Dec. 19 a federal express notice, which his wife signed for, was sent to his house requesting the drug test. He was in Washington D.C. conducting a stress seminar for a major corporation. "I taught all day and took a late flight home . . . I opened it the next morning in my office."
Marsh, however, had an afternoon flight to Kansas City where he was conducting another seminar. He instructed his secretary to tell TAC to have an examiner go to Kansas City to test him there. TAC however, didn't have a tester available in Kansas City.
According to Marsh, TAC claims if it had received a call the morning of the 20th it could have had its authorized doctor go from Provo to Salt Lake to test Marsh that same morning. Marsh disputes whether there was time for him to provide the two urine samples required and still make his flight.
"It's too bad," said Ray Brown, a panel member. "We are aware of Henry's reputation, and his past record indicates it is 100 percent certain he wasn't involved in drugs.
"But it is the athlete's responsibility to support the program in spite of other things going on in their life," Brown said.
"Although we are sympathetic to the needs of athletes to carry out non-athletic business in a professional manner, the (testing) procedure contemplates that sometimes athletes will be inconvenienced in making themselves available for testing, and that this cost is outweighed by the benefit to the sport as a whole in maintaining the integrity of the testing program," the panel said in its ruling as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
"We have no reason to believe Marsh was seeking to avoid testing with any bad motive," the ruling said, "but we cannot allow his conduct to establish a precedent for others who may wish to do so."
Marsh is upset because he's being punished for a technical violation of the policy.
"It's clearly not a violation of the spirit of the law . . . The purpose of the program is to catch people using steroids and discourage them from using them . . . Everyone knows I'm not on steroids. I'm not competing."
In fact, Marsh had an out-of-competition drug test just two months earlier, in October, that was negative. The reason his name came up again, he said, is that under the policy, the high-profile performers are tested the most. Marsh has been the nation's No. 1-ranked steeplechaser for a number of years.
Fellow Utah runner Doug Padilla, who is one of the distance running representatives who report to TAC, is puzzled by the ruling.
"Henry's name should have been removed from the testing board before that test . . . It's been more than a year since he competed.
"I'm disappointed that a program that has the potential to be very, very good has been applied in a way to make us look silly . . . It's supposed to protect those who are clean and punish those who are not. There's got to be some flexibility," he said.
Marsh said he is going to appeal the ruling, first with TAC and then with the United States Olympic Committee if necessary.
If those appeals fail then he hopes some good will come out of the ruling by discouraging some people from using steroids.
What hurts, if the ban stands, he said, is that not only will it preclude his comeback, but will also prohibit him from taking part in appearances to help promote various competitions, such as the Utah Summer Games and the Utah TAC championships.