Slaney Files Complaint Over Drug Test

Runner Mary Slaney has filed a complaint with the U.S. Olympic Committee, claiming the drug test that prompted her suspension last week by the International Amateur Athletic Federation was flawed and discriminates against women.

The USOC, in turn, demanded that USA Track & Field respond by Friday, either by scheduling a hearing or taking other action.

By going through the USOC, Slaney is avoiding a showdown with the IAAF.

“That’s not a matter between Mary and the IAAF,” her attorney, Jim Coleman, said Tuesday. “That’s between USA Track & Field and the IAAF. Basically, the IAAF has intervened into something it should not have.”

Pete Cava, a spokesman for USA Track & Field, said no decision had been made on barring Slaney and two other athletes who tested positive from next week’s U.S. championships at Indianapolis.

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Michael Johnson’s coach questioned Donovan Bailey’s entourage for allegedly ordering him to try to get Johnson injured.

“From the accounts I’ve read in the Toronto papers, Dan Pfaff [Bailey’s coach] ordered Donovan to go take him out hard and you’ll get him hurt,” Clyde Hart said, referring to Sunday’s 150-meter match race at Toronto’s SkyDome.

Hart said Johnson, who pulled up because of a hamstring injury, would be sidelined at least two weeks.

Golf

Twenty qualifying spots were at stake from a field of 97 pros and 24 amateurs for the U.S. Open on June 12-15 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

Among top names to qualify were former Open winner Larry Nelson at Atlanta, Fuzzy Zoeller at Alpine, N.J., and veteran touring pro Mike Reid at Columbus, Ohio.

Among the notables missing the cut were David Frost, Peter Jacobsen, Andy Bean, Chip Beck and Bob Tway.

College Football

Representatives of the Sugar, Fiesta and Orange bowls made their bids to join a new “super alliance” that will guarantee a national championship game beginning in 1999.

The three bowls, which currently make up the Bowl Alliance, hope to form a four-game arrangement with the Rose Bowl, thereby ensuring the two top teams will meet at the end of the season.

Pro Football

The San Diego Chargers signed unrestricted free-agent quarterback Jim Everett, formerly of the Rams and New Orleans Saints, to a one-year contract. The Chargers released quarterback Sean Salisbury. . . . The Indianapolis Colts signed free-agent strong safety Robert Blackmon, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks, and released veteran strong safety David Tate. . . . Former USC receiver Chris Miller, a seventh-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers, signed a two-year contract.

Hockey

Peter Pocklington, denouncing a column in the Toronto Globe and Mail, denied his Edmonton Oilers are in danger of tumbling into receivership because of his financial troubles.

Miscellany

Ila Borders, the first woman to pitch in a regular-season minor league game, walked seven and gave up one run and two hits in two innings as the St. Paul Saints lost, 9-3, to the Sioux City Explorers. . . . The 1998 West Coast Conference men’s and women’s basketball championships will be played at Santa Clara instead of Loyola Marymount. . . . Helen Jacobs, whose rivalry with Helen Wills Moody spiced the world of tennis in the 1930s, died at age 88 Easthampton, N.Y. . . . For Major League Soccer’s second season, Commissioner Doug Logan had set an average attendance target of 20,000, a 15% increase over last year. But with attendance averaging 14,925 through 58 games, he conceded the league might not reach its goal.