SANTO DOMINGO, 16 August 2003 — Argentine rower Ulf Lienhard became the third medalist to fail a doping test at the Pan American Games while Cuba pulled off another victory over the United States on Thursday.
Brazilian swimmer Gustavo Borges won the eighth Pan American gold of his career but the South Americans also suffered disappointment, failing to be among the three nations who qualified for the Olympic team show jumping despite winning the bronze medal.
Doping again tainted the games as Pan American Sports Organization (ODEPA) president Mario Vazquez Rana announced that Lienhard tested positive for cocaine after winning a bronze medal with Sebastian Massa in the men’s lightweight double sculls on Saturday.
Lienhard also won a silver medal in Sunday’s lightweight quadruple sculls alongside Diego Wenrendt, Jose Czsy and Massa. Vazquez Rana said that under ODEPA rules Argentina would lose both medals.
In previous cases, Letitia Vriedse of Surinam was found to have more than the permitted level of caffeine after winning the women’s 800 meters and men’s 100 meters champion, US athlete Mickey Grimes, tested positive for ephedrine.
Vazquez Rana said the US had also been stripped of the men’s 4x100 meters gold medal after Grimes ran for the team.
Although the medals in five events have been redistributed, Vazquez Rana said: “We can still classify the games as clean, in terms of doping.”
Cuba, who had already defeated the US in the baseball final and the men’s volleyball semifinal, comfortably won Thursday’s women’s volleyball semifinal against their archrivals 25-19, 25-19, 25-21.
They will face the Dominican Republic in the final after the host nation defeated favorites Brazil 25-18, 23-25, 23-25, 25-14, 15-13.
The US continued to dominate in the swimming pool, winning three of the five races on Thursday.
Venezuela’s Ricardo Monasterio provided a change of routine as he won the 400 meters freestyle in three minutes 50.01 seconds.
A Brazilian team including Borges, who has a total of 18 Pan American medals in his cabinet, won the men’s 4x100 meters freestyle, finishing ahead of the United States who were then disqualified for an illegal takeover.
Brazil’s show jumpers were less fortunate.
Missing top performer Rodrigo Pessoa, who opted not to compete to avoid missing out on European events, they finished third in the medal standings where each team’s worst scores are discounted.
But they lost out to Argentina in the Olympic qualifying competition, where all scores were included in the final total.
“If Rodrigo Pessoa had come, we might have won a place at the Olympics,” said team manager Sinval Silva. “But if we never bring in new people, we are going to spend our whole lives with the same riders.”
Pessoa told Brazilian television from Brussels: “This rule is absurd. How can the fourth team qualify for the Olympics and the third not qualify.”
The United States won the gold and Mexico the silver. Both qualified for Athens.
