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| Of Gold and Drugs By NEIL AMDUR September 4, 1972  MUNICH, West Germany-Tonobodyís surprise, Mark Spitzwon his seventh gold medal of theOlympics tonight with a seventh worldrecordswimming performance. But theluster of Spitzís final race and subsequentworld-record victories byMike Burton, Melissa Belote andKaren Moe were tarnished by thestunning disqualification of anasthmatic American swimminggold medalist on drugging charges.The 22-year-old Spitz, in whatmay have been his final racebefore he retires to pursue acareer in dentistry, swam the butterflyleg in the 400-meter medleyrelay. The Californian turned atight team duel with East Germanyinto a two body-length lead forJerry Heidenreich on the anchorfree-style leg, as the Americansclocked 3 minutes 48.16 seconds.The victory in the concluding raceof the swimming competition gaveSpitz four individual golds [100and 200-free-style and 100 and 200butterfly] and three relay titles-an achievement unequaled by asingle athlete in one Olympics. But even as Spitz and his teammatesreceived a standing ovation fromthe capacity crowd of 10,000, some membersof the American team were in tearsover the disqualification of Rick DeMont,a 16-year-old high school senior from SanRafael, Calif. DeMont, who won the 400-meter free-style earlier in the competition,was dropped from the finals of the 1,500minutes before the race tonight becausehis doping test had turned up positive followingthe 400. Kenneth Treadway, manager of themenís team, said that DeMont regularlytakes a prescription known as Malax,which contains an ephedrine. DeMont listedthe special medication on his Olympicforms during final processing in theUnited States, but American team doctorsapparently did not clear the prescriptionwith the medical committee of theInternational Olympic Committee. "Heísbeen taking that medication since he wasa little boy," said Mrs. Betty DeMont, whotried to comfort her tearful son when hewas informed of the disqualification atpoolside. According to the drug control manualof the I.O.C. medical committee,ephedrine is included among a group ofdrugs or related amphetamines that canaffect an athleteís performance. "Theyhave a particular point of attack in thevegetative nervous system, in addition totheir central stimulating effect and theresulting elimination of fatigue,"the manual, printed earlier thissummer, states on the reason forthe ban. "These drugs, as well assome of different pharmaceuticalnature, which act similarly such asephedrine . . . increase the fonicityof the sympathetic nerves whichmust be active in any great exertion." The decision to disqualifyDeMont was made after a recheckof his urinalysis today, and a secondmeeting of the I.O.C. MedicalCommittee. His first urinalysisafter the 400 had proved positive.The committee granted DeMont anopportunity to explain the situationearlier today, but ruled that hewas to be disqualified from the1,500. "The question of whether hewill have to return his medal willbe submitted to the I.O.C.Executive Committee," PrinceAlexandre de Merode, chairman ofthe Medical Committee, said. Thetests proved positive 12 parts in a million-a trace one doctor here described asan "infinitesmal amount." Mark Spitz retired from swimmingafter the Games, becoming a poster boyand making commercials for Schick andSpeedo. He later had a successful careerin real estate. Rick DeMont had to returnhis gold medal. Later the assistant headswim coach at the University of Arizona,he has continually asked for it back, onlyto be denied. | |  Associated Press Mark Spitz displaying the five swimming gold medals he had by Aug. 31 atthe Munich Games. Within the next five days he won a sixth and a seventh-the most ever, regardless of sport, in a single Olympics. Runners Up1951: Maureen (Little Mo) Connolly, 16, of San Diego, became an American tennissensation by winning the United States womenís nationals at Forest Hills, N.Y.,in three sets over Shirley Fry of Akron, Ohio. Connolly won three straightU.S. titles (see Sept. 7) and, in 1953, the first Grand Slam by a woman, buther career was cut short by a horse-riding accident. 1993: Jim Abbott of the Yankees, the former University of Michigan star and UnitedStates baseball Olympian who was born without a right hand, pitched a 4‚0no-hitter against the visiting Cleveland Indians. He got Carlos Baerga to groundout to shortstop Randy Velarde for the final out. 1976: Billy Haughton, driving the 3-year-old trotter Steve Lobell, won theHambletonian Classic, trottingís crown jewel, in an exhausting fourth-heat raceoffin scorching weather at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds in Illinois. Thehorse collapsed in his stable after going into shock but was later revived. TheHambletonian now has a three-heat limit. |
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