Can Kelli White Keep Her Medals?

(AP)  American sprinter Kelli White will not be suspended from future track meets after testing positive for a minor stimulant, but could still be stripped of the two gold medals she won at the World Championships, IAAF General-Secretary Istvan Gyulai said Wednesday.

Gyulai, speaking to The Associated Press by telephone from Monaco, said the IAAF will not decide whether White loses her medals until next Monday.

White tested positive for the stimulant modafinil after her victory in the 100 meters at the Worlds on Aug. 24. White said she used the prescription drug for a sleep disorder.

The penalty for taking a minor stimulant such as modafinil is disqualification from the tournament where the athlete tested positive — meaning White could lose the golds she won in the 100 and 200 races.

Although White passed a drug test after winning the 200 on Aug. 28, the IAAF said her positive test after the 100 could be enough to cost her both medals.

The IAAF extended the deadline until Monday to wait for a doctor's report explaining why White needed to take modafinil. The 26-year-old track star said she needed the drug to treat narcolepsy.

"Kelli White and the U.S. federation tried to explain to us that she was ordered by her doctor to take modafinil, so the IAAF will wait to hear the medical explanation," Gyulai said.

"Unless the medical explanation casts new light on the matter she will lose both her medals — as this is the sanction," he said.

Whatever the outcome, he said, White is cleared to race immediately. She had planned to compete in the Golden League track meet in Brussels on Friday and the Grand Prix final in Monaco on Sept. 13-14.

White, the first American woman to sweep both sprints at a world championships, will also be able to participate in next year's Athens Olympics.

While not specified by name on the banned list, modafinil is covered under the stimulants category of "related substances," the IAAF has said.

Under IAAF rules, the penalty for use of light stimulants also includes a public warning. For harder stimulants, such as amphetamines, the sanction is disqualification and a two-year ban.

If White loses the medals, she would be the biggest track name stripped of gold at a major championship since Ben Johnson at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Last Saturday, White acknowledged taking modafinil the morning of the 100 final. But she denied ever taking a substance to enhance her performance, saying she took the medication only to treat narcolepsy and had "no idea" it contained a banned substance.

White said she didn't apply for a medical waiver or include the medication on her doping control form as required because it wasn't named on the prohibited drug list.

White said she and her doctor had done extensive research on modafinil before deciding to use it for narcolepsy, which causes sudden fatigue or sleepiness. The drug is sold under the brand name Provigil in the United States.

However, an Internet search on modafinil turned up frequent warnings to athletes that its use could result in a positive result in an anti-doping test.


By Jerome Pugmire