By Ken Stone

Kathy Jager has company.

The IAAF has identified an M50 Czech Republic javelin thrower and a W50 Italian sprinter/jumper as having been sanctioned by their national federations after testing positive for banned substances.

Like Jager -- the WAVA world-champion W55 sprinter from Arizona who received a two-year suspension for having tested positive for methyltestosterone in her menopause medicine -- the Czech and the Italian have been banned from competition for two years.

The news appeared on Page 5 of the IAAF newsletter No. 46, published Dec. 15, 2000, and available on the IAAF Web site. But since the two masters were among 20 athletes listed for doping violations, little attention was paid.

In fact, both the official WAVA and European Veteran Athletic Association Web sites are silent on the subject. Not so Annette’s Seite, a German veterans track site maintained by WAVA world champion Annette Koop and her lawyer husband, Robert.

On February 5, 2001, the Koops reported:

Frantisek Dráp ist bei den Masters-Europameisterschaften im vergangenen Sommer im finnischen Jyvaeskylae positiv getestet worden. Der 50jährige Tscheche wurde inzwischen für zwei Jahre gesperrt. Er hatte im Speerwurf der M 50 mit 62.27m die Silbermedaille errungen, die ihm jetzt durch die EVAA aberkannt wurde. Der bisherige Meisterschaftsdritte Erkki Porri (FIN) erhält jetzt Silber, der 51jährige Pole Jan Dec gewinnt Bronze. Gleichzeitig wurde auch ein Masters-Dopingfall aus Italien bekannt. Bei den italienischen Senioren- und Mastermeisterschaften 2000 am 20. Februar vor einem Jahr in Neapel war die W45-Sprinterin Tania Ciuciula positiv getestet worden. Auch sie wurde inzwischen von der IAAF für zwei Jahre gesperrt.

I don’t sprechen zie Deutsch, but the Koops’ post led me to the IAAF revelation.

The banned Czech, whom the IAAF identified as Frantisek Drab, tested positive July 18, 2000, at the European Veterans Outdoor Champs in Jyväskylä, Finland, where had won the silver medal in the javelin with a throw of 62.27m -- a little over 204 feet. That also was the No. 2 mark in his age group worldwide in 2000. Drab (or Drap) also took second in the 1998 Nike World Masters Games in Eugene, Oregon, where he threw 57.54 (188-9) in the M45 age group.

The banned Italian is Tania Ciuciula, who tested positive for a banned substance at the Italian Indoor Veterans championships in Naples, Italy, on February 20, 2000. However, she continued to compete that spring and summer, including a long jump competition April 25 in Rome and the Italian vets outdoor championships in June in Milan. There she won gold in the long jump and bronze in the 100m (15.65). She ranked 12th in the world in her age group in 2000, having gone 4.26 (just short of 14 feet).

Apparently, she was barred from competing a month later in the European veterans championships in mid-July in Finland.

The Eurovets meet Web site shows Ciuciula among the entrants, but the results do not show her as having competed.

However, a report by the EAA Circular Letter of late July 2000 identified Ciuciula as having tested positive as a high jumper at the Italian Indoor Veterans Championships on Feb. 20, 2000.

The IAAF earlier had announced in its newsletter:

“In the matter of the application for the early reinstatement of Kathy Jager, a 56-year old athlete of the USA, Council adopted the position that the IAAF should not exercise any jurisdiction over doping matters relating to Veteran athletes competing in events that are limited to Veterans. Such matters should be dealt with by WAVA.”

Given this stance, it can be asked: Why has WAVA not taken public responsibility for the Drab and Ciuciula cases? Why have their two-year suspensions not been made public via masters/veterans media? And why -- if IAAF shouldn’t handle veterans doping matters -- did the IAAF suspend two veterans for doping infractions?

Other questions I’m seeking answers to:

1. What banned substances were involved in the European cases?

2. Have the banned athletes admitted or denied their drug positives?

3. Have the banned Eurovets appealed their suspension, or sought early reinstatement?

4. Are WAVA and EVAA officials withholding names of any other athletes who have tested positive in veterans meets lately?

I’m also curious about the banned athletes themselves. Do they have histories of success as open athletes in the 1970s or 1980s? How can these athletes be reached?