Dispute Was Over Drinks

HELSINKI, Finland —  A culture clash erupted between members of the U.S. track team’s relay runners before the world championships when some young athletes balked at a request from their elders to bring them sodas at a restaurant, sprinter John Capel said Wednesday.

“Some of them took it as we were kind of bullying them and they went and called their moms or whatever,” Capel said. “[They’re a ] bunch of little punks.”

Craig Masback, chief executive officer of USA Track and Field, said he launched an investigation into the matter late Tuesday. He said coaches, agents and some athletes would be questioned but that athletes who have events remaining would be excluded in order to avoid distracting them.

“Based on what we learned [Tuesday] night, or, more importantly, what we didn’t learn, there was nothing that came forth that led us to believe there was an ongoing problem,” Masback said. The team, he added, “was quite cohesive,” and was performing well enough to refute rumors of discord.

Capel said the senior athletes, whom he defined as those older than 24, “were just having a little fun. The older guys pick on the little guys. The same thing goes on in every sport.”

He said his young teammates “are a little soft,” and added that no physical contact was made. “Although we wanted to, we didn’t,” said Capel, the defending 200-meter world champion.

Capel also said the athletes in question, whom he would not name, “went and started telling all the little girls on the team, and they start making a big speech about it. You know, they got that mom syndrome and all that. They made it out bigger than what it was.”

Capel and 20-year-old Wallace Spearmon Jr. competed in the same semifinal on Wednesday, with Capel winning in 20.45 seconds and Spearmon second in 20.49. Afterward, Spearmon downplayed rumors of a split among the sprinters.

“Nothing that we can’t work out,” he said. “We just shook hands out there. As far as I know, we’re fine.”

Tyson Gay, 23, said any problems “may have something to do with someone else,” and said Capel and Maurice Greene “have been nothing but help to me.... I’ve been uplifted by the older guys.”