Sprinter to lose medals

LONDON -- Track and field's governing body wants American sprinter Kelli White stripped of her two gold medals from the World Championships. Now it's up to U.S. anti-doping officials.\nThe International Association of Athletics Federations ruled Tuesday that White committed a doping offense when she tested positive for a stimulant and should lose her world titles in the 100 and 200-meter events.\nThe IAAF rejected White's explanation that she took the stimulant for a sleep disorder and sent the case to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for a hearing and disciplinary action.\nRich Wanninger, a spokesman for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said his organization had not received any information from the IAAF as of Tuesday afternoon. Once that information is received, Wanninger said, the agency will begin a review process that could last months.\nThe IAAF made clear it expects U.S. authorities to remove White's medals.\n"The proper sanction under IAAF rules will be a public warning and disqualification from the competition concerned," IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai said.\nIf the IAAF isn't satisfied with the U.S. action, the international body would take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.\n"She is disqualified only at the end of the procedure because further legal issues need to be exhausted," Gyulai told The Associated Press by phone from IAAF headquarters in Monaco. "This can only happen after she has been given a hearing by her national federation."\nWhite, the first American woman to sweep the sprint events at the worlds, tested positive for modafinil after winning the 100 on Aug. 24. She passed a drug test after winning the 200 four days later.\nThe IAAF gave White until Tuesday to produce medical documents explaining her use of the drug. She said her personal doctor prescribed the medication for narcolepsy.\n"The explanation has been studied and turned down," Gyulai said. "Our experts have determined the stimulant is performance-enhancing."\nWhite was unavailable for comment Tuesday. She said last week she will fight to keep her medals.\n"Whatever I have to do to keep them, I will do that," she said.\nModafinil is not on the sport's list of banned drugs, but the IAAF says it falls under the category of "related substances."\nWhite denied taking the medication to enhance performance and said she didn't know it contained a banned substance. However, she did not declare modafinil on her doping control form as required or apply for a medical exemption to use the product.\nThe IAAF ruled last Wednesday that modafinil was a minor stimulant, similar to ephedrine, and carries a penalty of a public warning and disqualification. The decision allowed White to continue competing.\nHad modafinil -- sold in the United States under the brand name Provigil -- been classified as a stronger stimulant, White also would have faced a two-year ban and been ineligible for the 2004 Athens Olympics.\nAlthough White tested clean after the 200, the IAAF considers one positive test enough for disqualification from the entire championships.\nIf White loses the medals, the golds would go to fellow American sprinter Torri Edwards in the 100 and Russia's Anastasiya Kapachinskaya in the 200. White would also lose the $120,000 in prize money she won at the worlds.\nUnder the sport's policy of strict liability, athletes are considered guilty of a doping violation if banned substances are found in their bodies, regardless of the circumstances.\nWhite competed at the Golden League meet in Brussels, Belgium, last Friday and won the 100 in 10.87 seconds. She is to run in the Grand Prix final in Monaco this weekend and a meet in Moscow on Sept. 20.