Word: plucknett
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Plucknett loses his record
...more surprised than Ben Plucknett when he broke the world discus record this month with a toss of 237 ft. 4 in. That was a stunning 14 ft. better than his best throw last year when Plucknett edged out Al Oerter to make the U.S. Olympic team, and it came at a time when the California athlete said he was so tired from overtraining that "this shouldn't be happening...
Most track fans would agree with that assessment after an announcement last week from London: Plucknett has been stripped of his world records and suspended indefinitely from international competition for using drugs, though he may still be able to compete in U.S. meets. The International Amateur Athletic Federation, the world governing body for track and field, said that urine tests taken last Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the Pacific Conference Games in New Zealand showed that Plucknett and another athlete-Gael Mulhall of Australia-had traces of anabolic steroids in their blood. Plucknett won the discus throw...
...Plucknett and Mulhall were caught by routine urine tests administered to 24 randomly selected athletes at the Pacific games. Such tests can pick up traces of steroids consumed within two months of testing. So athletes who depend on the drugs are usually careful to stop using them before that time. Six or seven athletes a year are banned by the federation on drug-related offenses. Though suspensions are supposed to be for life, the national governing bodies in track and field are allowed to appeal for reinstatement after 18 months, and the softhearted federation usually says...
...ruling erases all of Plucknett's performances since January, including one world record set last May in Modesto, Calif., and the second in Stockholm this month. He will, however, retain a less desirable record: first person to lose a world mark because of steroid use. That distinction is unlikely to last. Scores of athletes routinely use steroids, and as Plucknett knows, records are made to be broken...