Topic: News: Chris LeRoux Ruled Ineligible

[Paul LaDuke]

Chris,

Well said and enough said.  I hope that the USAW can name another qualified successor soon and that you can put this whole incident to rest.

I also hope the new USAW head is dynamic, charasmatic and can lead the sport into a revival.  I truly think that there could be a massive surge of interest in the sport at the HS level in the near future IF the USAW and other interested parties make the right moves and sometimes make very quick decisions, etc.  Much of this will fall on the new leader and his/her vision for the future of the sport.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

USADA has now enrolled me in the OOC program, with no notice and without my permission! I will not submit to testing under these circumstances. I absolutely deny any use of performance enhancing substances but this is pure fascism. They have no right to enroll me in this intrusive program against my will. I expect they are coming for me soon. I will refuse to take the test, they will suspend me, and I guess I will continue to fight because this is simply unacceptable. I will continue to demand the right to appeal this initial ruling saying I am ineligible.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

After speaking with the Ombudsman, it appears I will get a hearing before the Court Of Arbitration For Sport.

[Pete Church]

Is that what you want? It sounds good to me. I guess that's an in-person thing? And when do you think?

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

It does appear that the rules allow USADA to forcibly enroll me in the OOC program, surprisingly enough, despite the fact that I haven't competed since the 2006 Senior Nationals, despite the fact that I wasn't ranked high enough after that performance to meet the entry requirement guidelines (or even before I retired), and despite the fact that I am not even an active member of the USAW. I would say this is a disturbing power and view it very similarly to the government grabbing me randomly off the street and demanding I submit to drug testing. Meanwhile, they are refusing high ranked athletes that want IN the program so they are eligible for trips, benefits, etc.

It appears they wish to pretend they never declared me retired with no notice after my comeback and win at nationals and against my will, wish to pretend they then didn't rule me ineligible with no notice and say I had to go through 6 months of OOC testing before competing, and wish to pretend they didn't then say I could compete immediately if I voluntarily enrolled in the OOC program. It seems there is retaliation and intimidation- trying to shut me up about their rule violations and discredit me- hoping I will refuse the test or fail it and thus damage my case.

I am not sure what recourse I now have to address the more than two months I was called ineligible or was refused knowledge of my eligibility. Obviously, my right to compete was denied against the rules. It seems it will all come down to that USAW retirement letter. USADA claims that letter is the fault of the USAW, not theirs, and that it simply doesn't matter- that I still am obligated to conform to the rules of USADA even though it was the USAW that was obligated to properly inform me of the policies and they clearly failed. I have not heard from the Ombudsman yet how strong my case is on that matter yet but he seemed very positive the last time we spoke (he hadn't read that letter yet).

Thanks for your support in this trying time.

[John Way]

In New South Wales, a state in Australia, our membership form has a section covering drug testing.

As I read it, a registered athlete could be tested at any time, any place, is the situation different in the USA?

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Yes and no. Apparently you do not need to be registered here. Also, I believe there is some limitation on where and when they can test you, like maybe not at work- not sure about that...

[Shaun Le Conte]

John, do you mean that merely being a member of NSW weightlifting, makes you subject to possible house calls for urine samples? In that case I would suspect that every member of NSW weightlifting would have to submit location forms saying where they will be at regular times each week.

I'll describe the situation in Canada, since I think it is nearly identical to what happens in the US. In Canada, weightlifters are only subject to drug testing at sanctioned competitions, unless they are to represent Canada for international teams. Then, they are put into the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) as part of the Athlete Whereabouts Program (AWP). At this point they have to submit their Athlete Location form

http://www.cces.ca/forms/index.cfm?DSP=template&act=view3&template_id=178&lang=e

And then they can expect random visits. Weightlifters currently subject to random testing, see list:
http://www.cces.ca/forms/index.cfm?DSP=template&act=view3&template_id=204&lang=e