Tearful Angel Myers Loses Her Appeal For Reinstatement to Olympic Team

Angel Myers’ removal from the U.S. Olympic swimming team, after she had tested positive for steroid use, was upheld by a three-member arbitration panel Friday.

“I didn’t expect it to turn out this way,” said Myers, who claimed that the drug tests mistakenly identified her birth-control prescription as evidence of steroid use.

The arbitrators’ decision followed a hearing that ended early Friday. The deadline was 8 a.m., PDT, for U.S. athletes to be certified by the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee.

Olympic Coach Richard Quick said Jill Sterkel will take Myers’ place in the 50-meter freestyle, an event in which Myers set a U.S. record at the Olympic trials. Janel Jorgensen will replace Myers in the 100-meter butterfly, and Olympic team member Dara Torres will get Myers’ spot in the 100-meter freestyle, another event in which Myers set an American record at the trials.

“Most of the people on the team now are my friends,” a tearful Myers said at a news conference after the decision. “I wish them all the best of luck. I wish I could be with them.”

Myers, of Americus, Ga., testified for 10 minutes before the arbitration panel. She was accompanied by her father, Kirt Myers, who had testified earlier, and by F. Wilson Myers, her uncle and a Birmingham, Ala., lawyer.

“I told them the truth,” she said. “To my knowledge, I have not taken anabolic steroids. I was asked directly whether or not I had taken any anabolic steroids. I told them the truth. I didn’t.”

Asked whether she thought using birth pills could lead to positive drug tests, Myers said: “From the testimony given today, I think that’s possible, but I don’t lay any blame on anybody.”