The war over American policy on drug testing continued yesterday with the US track and field authorities absorbing sniper fire from both home and abroad and the claims made by a tearful CJ Hunter to a press conference on Tuesday being roundly rejected - ridiculed even - by IOC officials.

In what is, in some respects, revenge served cold, US officials, so long shrill in their condemnation of IOC anti-doping practices, are now painted as deceitful and hypocritical when it comes to dealing with their own yard.

Pressure on American track authorities to come clean on the issue of all positive tests recorded by them increased exponentially when General Barry McCaffrey, the White House's spokesperson on the issue, urged USA Track and Field (USATF) to immediately disclose the names of all the American athletes who have tested positive for drugs. Craig Masback, chief executive of USATF, rejected the call.

In a letter, McCaffrey, who was instrumental in the establishment of the World Anti-Doping Agency, urged Masback to make public the full tally of results and tests carried out by and for the association. The request follows the news that Hunter, the American shot putter, tested positive four times this summer for nandrolone. Masback, in his reply, took refuge behind the letter of US law, stating that legally, and according to the US Olympic Committee (USOC) and his own organisation's rules, athletes were entitled to be considered innocent until proven guilty.

Masback went on to claim that the majority of cases in question related to substances (like asthma treatments) for which athletes had medical waivers.

"The next greatest number of unresolved matters involved so-called `cold medicines' positives, which even if the athlete is found guilty will only result in a public warning."

Even this claim by Masback is unlikely to elicit much sympathy after Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan had her gold medal withdrawn by the IOC for testing positive for stimulants after her team doctor administered her two Nurofen.

Masback said the remaining cases are to be adjudicated under the USATF system, as soon as the organisation "is provided with the necessary documentation and laboratory analysis by the IOC laboratories, the IAAF (International Amateur Athletic Federation) or the USOC".

It has been a bad couple of years for the US's reputation on the drugs issue. Having lauded Mark McGwire's androstenedione-fuelled baseball achievements, there has come the embarrassment of the Denis Mitchell case and the revelations of covered tests by Wade Exum.

Now Hunter, the shot putter who is also Marion Jones' other two-thirds, has placed his considerable shadow over the Games. Hunter has been something of a pharmaceutical roadshow. He tested positive for nandrolone in four separate tests in Europe this summer, according to the IAAF. Twice out-of-competition (in Milan and Oslo) and twice in-competition (Oslo and Zurich).

His lachrymose claims at Tuesday's press conference were ridiculed yesterday by senior IOC officials.

Dick Pound, the Canadian IOC vice-president, accused Hunter, in particular, and America in general of being in a "state of denial" about the drugs issue.

Warming to his subject, Pound accused Hunter (who, remember, could snap Pound like a twig) of availing of the "usual excuse" of poorly-labelled nutritional supplements. "This is the usual thing," he added. "Athletes always say, `It can't be possible', followed by, `There must be a mistake in the sample', followed by, `I must have got it from the toilet seat', followed by, `Here's a writ for $12 million from my lawyer'. It's a classic profile."

And could Hunter have tested positive as a result of consuming tainted iron supplements?

"He would be a very rusty person if that's what it was."

Pound went on to criticise the US organisation for not replacing Hunter with another athlete on their team once they knew he was positive. He also demanded to know why Hunter is in Sydney with an athlete's accreditation. "He certainly should not be an accredited athlete. What the USOC wishes to do with someone who is suspended for doping, it's up to them. But it's an opportunity for them to indicate what their real stance is on doping in sport."

US team spokesman Mike Moran later claimed that Hunter had returned his accreditation when asked. Nevertheless, other officials were quick to pile in when it came to kicking Hunter and the Americans.

Jacques Rogge, vice-chairman of the IOC medical commission, said it was impossible to reach such a concentration by merely taking supplements.

"It's the usual excuse. Even if he was positive with food supplements, it is his responsibility to take legal products. Even if supplements were responsible, it doesn't change anything. He's positive, full stop. He has to be disqualified and banned. He should have no access to the accredited zones. I'm adamant: if this man has committed a doping offence, it's moral and ethical to take away the accreditation and say, `Sir, you have no place at the Games'."

Under IAAF and IOC rules, an athlete is responsible for whatever substance is found in his body, regardless of how it got there. At the Bislett Games in Oslo, Hunter had a concentration of nandrolone that was 1,000 times over the permitted level.

The controversy appeared to be having little detrimental effect on Hunter's wife, Marion Jones, who qualified for the finals of the 200 metres and the long jump yesterday. Skipping sunnily through the mixed zone. she commented: "Of all the days, this was going to be my hardest in Sydney. I'm glad to have got through it."

If only they gave medals for understatement.