海角大神

On one side is a tsunami of officials, lawyers, law-enforcement agents, scientists, and rules bent on banishing performance-enhancing drugs from sports. On the other side is a man dressed in simple khaki pants and a polo shirt, sitting behind a wooden desk here in this posh Los Angeles suburb.

Meet Howard Jacobs, perhaps the preeminent US defense lawyer for athletes who have been accused of using illegal drugs. Track stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery sought him out when they were accused of doping. So did top US cyclists Tyler Hamilton and since-defrocked 2006 Tour de France champ Floyd Landis, as well as bobsledders, swimmers, and others.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Jacobs has faced a deluge of criticism for standing with them 鈥� not least of all from those within the powerful antidoping establishment. To some, he is the equivalent of a mob lawyer 鈥� a man who represents people who have cheated the system and, perhaps worse, cheated the world鈥檚 youth of the ideals they鈥檙e taught about sports and fair play.

But Jacobs, a former triathlete, is resolute. He believes many athletes are unfairly accused of cheating and, once tagged, wear the equivalent of a scarlet letter. He has become a human megaphone for pointing out flaws in a system he sees as tilted toward those who level charges 鈥� a job that carries a similar risk.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e criticizing USADA [the US Anti-Doping Agency], it鈥檚 because you鈥檙e a doper or you have some financial incentive to do it,鈥� says Jacobs, describing what he says his opponents believe. 鈥淲hich is ridiculous. It鈥檚 as ridiculous as saying you can鈥檛 criticize the war on Iraq.鈥�

鈥⑩赌⑩赌�

The system set up to stem drug use in sports is a complex nexus of international law and athletic values that is carried out by an alphabet-soup of antidoping agencies worldwide. It has its own built-in set of checks and balances. The only problem is, one person鈥檚 check doesn鈥檛 always meet another person鈥檚 sense of balance.

The genesis of much of the antidoping movement was an egregious scandal surrounding the Tour de France in 1998, when one team was caught with a carload of banned drugs. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), already plagued with rumors of drug use in many sports, was galvanized to act. Beginning the next year, numerous policing agencies bubbled up throughout the sporting world 鈥� most notably the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

A joint venture between governments and sporting entities, WADA spent four years fashioning a global antidoping code. All 202 countries in the Olympic movement and 570 sports organizations have signed on. Each year, the agency updates a list of banned substances.

Advocates say the regulations have become particularly important in an era when performance-enhancing drugs have spread everywhere from Major League dugouts to Pop Warner leagues. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to pretend that it only affects eight people in the 100-meter final at the Olympics, but it doesn鈥檛,鈥� says Dick Pound, WADA chairman from 1999-2007. 鈥淚t goes all the way down the pyramid.鈥�

Yet some critics such as Jacobs believe the WADA strictures are too inflexible and ensnare numerous athletes who aren鈥檛 trying to cheat. Take the case of Zach Lund. Going into the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy, Mr. Lund was the world鈥檚 top skeleton racer 鈥� one of those people who inexplicably launches himself head-first down an icy track on a sled at 80 m.p.h.

He had tested positive for a drug present in medicine he took to fight baldness, banned the year before because it can mask steroids. Lund, who had declared the drug on all his forms for years, was granted a reprieve from USADA and cleared for the Olympics. But WADA appealed the decision, and the case went to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Hours before the opening ceremony, Lund was kicked out of the Games 鈥� even though the CAS arbitrators agreed he had no intention of using illegal drugs. They said it was his responsibility to comply with WADA鈥檚 list of banned drugs.

Jacobs, Lund鈥檚 lawyer in the case, estimates that two-thirds of the nearly 50 athletes he鈥檚 represented have inadvertently taken a banned substance, such as Ritalin 鈥� a prescription drug that athletes with attention-deficit disorder (ADD) can take if they fill out the right paperwork, which they often don鈥檛. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not trying to cheat,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut they get caught up in the system, and they end up getting these incredibly long suspensions.鈥�

Jacobs sees other problems with the oversight regimen as well. Unlike in US civil court, he says he doesn鈥檛 have the opportunity to question witnesses weeks in advance of a trial.

Often, the first time he hears the other side鈥檚 evidence is during the sports arbitration hearing 鈥� and he often has to respond without witnesses himself, unless his client happens to be a 鈥渢oxicologist,鈥� he says dryly.

鈥淗oward ... just doesn鈥檛 know the science that I do and I can鈥檛 tell him what to ask,鈥� says Dr. Don Catlin, a top antidoping scientist who has many times faced off with Jacobs. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what鈥檚 wrong in our system of litigation. All the cards are stacked for USADA because they have money to pay and can purchase witnesses.鈥�

But that can be difficult even with money. WADA鈥檚 code of ethics prohibits lab directors from providing 鈥渃ounsel, advice, or information to athletes regarding techniques or methods to mask detection鈥� of banned substances 鈥� a standard Dr. Catlin, former head of UCLA鈥檚 Olympic Lab, interprets as an effective ban on testifying on behalf of athletes.

Yet defenders of the system dismiss Jacobs鈥檚 complaints. After years of unchecked drug abuse, they鈥檝e finally secured a modest foothold from which to clean up sports. Accused athletes are not their priority. Besides, some of the US justice-system safeguards that Jacobs touts don鈥檛 apply to international cases, they argue.

鈥淎mericans are kind of nutty,鈥� says Jan Paulsson, a Paris-based lawyer and veteran CAS arbitrator. 鈥淚 hear this all the time: 鈥楾he system doesn鈥檛 have this, it doesn鈥檛 have that.鈥� Hold on 鈥� you鈥檙e the only people in the world who have it.鈥�

Travis Tygart, head of the USADA, defends antidoping arbitration as a balance between efficiency and truth, designed to prevent 鈥渇ishing expeditions鈥� 鈥� defense lawyers drawing out hearings at great expense. 鈥淚 have a lot of respect for Howard. He鈥檚 a fierce advocate,鈥� says Mr. Tygart, who, growing up in Jacksonville, Fla., competed on the same swim team as Jacobs. 鈥淗is job is just entirely different 鈥� using smoke and mirrors to get athletes off, whereas ours is a search for the truth to protect clean athletes.鈥�

鈥⑩赌⑩赌�

If it weren鈥檛 for serendipity, Jacobs might be working for Tygart today 鈥� having sought a job in 2000 with the newly formed USADA. But the slots were filled, and the agency suggested he try defending athletes to gain experience.

So in 2002, Jacobs represented a bobsledder who tested positive for nandrolone at the Salt Lake Olympics. Though the athlete was banned for two years, Jacobs helped him win a case against a supplement company whose contaminated product, he proved, caused the test results.

鈥淚t struck me that not all cases were intentional doping cases,鈥� says Jacobs. 鈥淚t seemed to me it鈥檇 be interesting to do 鈥� maybe as a very small part of my practice.鈥� Today, he bills himself as one of the few defense lawyers specializing in the field. Over the years, he has tried to beef up his knowledge of the science of doping, even reading technical journals over breakfast.

Still, at one point, he nearly gave it all up. Just before the press conference on Lund鈥檚 ejection from Torino, Jacobs received a verdict on another client 鈥� Mr. Hamilton, the cyclist. The two had spent 18 months shuttling around the world to prove his innocence, even uncovering e-mails from the test鈥檚 originator questioning its integrity. Jacobs was sure he had it wrapped up. Then came the fax: Guilty as charged. Crushed, Jacobs called his wife in the US. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if this is worth doing anymore,鈥� he said.

But ultimately he decided it would be a disservice to athletes to walk away. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no one else that鈥檚 really developed an expertise to the extent that I have,鈥� he says.

Ous Mellouli, a Tunisian swimmer who tested positive for amphetamines in 2006, is undoubtedly glad about that. With the help of Jacobs, who attributes the test results to taking a friend鈥檚 ADD medicine to study for a test, the usual two-year ban was reduced, enabling him to go to Beijing as a medal favorite. 鈥淥ccasionally,鈥� says Jacobs, 鈥測ou get a result like that that makes you realize it鈥檚 worth it.鈥�

鈥� The last installment in this series runs Aug. 4. The first two parts ran July 14 and July 21.