The silver medalist came out of a halfway house to compete. The gold medalist came off a drug suspension.
Together, they stood atop the medal stand in Estadi Olimpic on Friday evening-two athletes who have lived their personal hells recently and who now had become the first American shot-putters to finish 1-2 since 1968.
”I`m in shock,” said gold medalist Mike Stulce, 25, a junior at Texas A&M. ”I never expected anything like this at all.”
No wonder. Stulce threw three personal bests Friday, including the winning one that carried 71 feet, 2 1/2 inches.
Jim Doehring, 30, of San Diego, took the silver with a throw of 68-9 1/4 despite having left a halfway house just three weeks before the U.S. Olympic trials. He was there for five months after being found guilty on an amphetamine distribution charge.
”To go from where I was to here, I can`t tell you how happy I am,” he said.
Viathceslav Lykho of the Unified Team took the bronze.
Stulce and Doehring had expected to be among several fighting for the spot below Werner Gunthor, the defending world champion and 1988 bronze medalist from Switzerland.
”I didn`t even think of first,” Stulce said. ”Werner has dominated this sport for three years. To be honest, I would have been ecstatic with second. I kept thinking that Werner was going to let go of his gold-medal throw at any time.”
Gunthor, 31, failed to throw farther than 68 feet in his six attempts for the first time in three years.
”I don`t know what happened,” he said. ”One good throw would have made it, but I couldn`t produce it.”
While Stulce says he had the meet of his life, Doehring was surprised with his silver for a different reason. He didn`t think a 68-foot throw would hold up.
”That`s not all that exceptional in an international meet like this,”
he said. ”But I`m not going to be complaining about this at all.”
All three medalists had faced international drug suspensions recently after testing positive for high levels of testosterone, indicating steroid use. It was the first time in the sport`s history that has happened.
Stulce served a two-year suspension, fighting the charge in courts all the way, before the suspension ended in April.
”I never took steroids, never took anything at all, and if anyone would take the time to look at the proof, it bears that out,” he said.
Besides bitter, Stulce says the fight left him broke, too. He borrowed money from his parents and has lawyer`s fees approaching $30,000.
”It`s time I got my degree and got a job to start paying people back,”
he said.
Doehring, the 1990 U.S. national champion, won his fight after 18 months on a breach of drug-testing procedure. The unrelated amphetamine distribution charge sent his training into a tailspin.
”I`ve been on a roller-coaster, and hopefully I`m going to celebrate this high with my family for a while now,” he said.
Randy Matson and George Woods were the last two Americans to take the gold and silver in the shot put. That was in Mexico City in 1968.
As things worked out, Woods attended Texas A&M and is now a fundraiser for the school and talks with Stulce.
”The last time we talked was right before the Olympics,” Stulce said.
”I didn`t want to go back there having flopped, and now I don`t. The last two years have been hell for me, but this more than makes up for it.”
