Kelli White

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced May 19 that White was suspended for "the use of prohibited performance-enhancing substances and doping methods, including undetectable steroids and erythropoietin (EPO)."

The 27-year-old became the first U.S. athlete to be sanctioned for the use of a prohibited substance without a positive test for that substance.

Last year, White captured the 100 meters and 200 meters at the athletics World Championships in Paris, and at the U.S. Track and Field Championships, although those triumphs were marred by a positive test for the stimulant modafinil, which she claimed she needed to treat a sleep disorder.

The evidence that resulted in her ban came, in part, from documents relating to the Bay Area Laboratory CooPerative (BALCO) investigation. White's coach, Remi Korchemny, is one of four San Francisco-area men with links to BALCO indicted on charges of distributing performance-enhancing drugs to U.S. sportsmen and -women.

The Japan Times Weekly: May 29, 2004
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