Source: International Herald-Tribune
Pubdate: 1, Aug 1998
Contact:  http://www.iht.com/ 
Author: Agence France-Presse

TOUR CYCLIST AND TEAM DOCTOR CHARGED

LILLE, France---Rodolfo Massi, a Tour de France cyclist with the
Casino team, and Nicolas Terrados, the doctor for the ONCE team, were
charged in court Friday night following a hearing before Judge Patrick
Keil, who is heading one of the Tour drugs inquiries.

Both men were detained by French police Wednesday night. They have
been charged under the 1989 drug act. Massi, a member of the Casino
team, was the leader in the King of the Mountains category at the time
of his arrest. He faces additional charges of importing, distributing
and transferring "poisonous substances."

Both men were freed after the Friday hearing.

In The Hague, the Dutch government said Friday that it was setting up
an inquiry into the French authorities' handling of the drugs scandal
in the Tour.

The Dutch sports minister, Erica Terpstra, who has made public her
support for the TVM team, which left the race Friday, said she wanted
to determine whether the French legal authorities had acted fully
within their powers.

IOC Calls Drug Meeting

Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic
Committee, said Friday that he was calling a crisis meeting of the IOC
executive board to discuss the use of drugs in sport, Reuters reported
from London.

The announcement of the meeting Aug. 20 in Lausanne comes less than a
week after Samaranch provoked surprise in sports circles when he told
the Spanish newspaper El Mundo that he favored an overhaul of doping
controls, with athletes being allowed to use performance-enhancing
drugs as long as the drugs were not harrnful.

The second part of shot putter Randy Barnes' drug test was positive,
the governing body of world track and field said Friday, the
Associated Press reported. This sample from Barnes's
out-of-competition test April, 1 confirmed the use of a banned
nutritional supplement, they said.

Barnes, the world-record holder and Olympic champion, must now appeal
to U.S. track authorities to avoid a lifetime suspension.

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Checked-by: "Rich O'Grady"