RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – Former 400 meters world champion Antonio Pettigrew died in August of an antihistamine overdose, a state autopsy report said Wednesday.

The death was ruled a suicide with “diphenhydramine toxicity” as the cause, according to the autopsy and an accompanying investigation report released by the North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner’s office.

“A lethal concentration of diphenhydramine was detected in central and peripheral blood specimens,” the autopsy said.

Pettigrew, 42, was an assistant track and field coach at the University of North Carolina and a 2000 Olympian who was stripped of his 4×400 meters relay gold medal after admitting to doping. He also was the 1991 400 meters world champion.

He was found unresponsive by friends in the back seat of his vehicle in rural central North Carolina on August 10.

An empty bottle of a sleep aid was found in the car, the investigation report said.

Diphenhydramine, an antihistamine, is often used as a sleep aid and for the treatment of allergies.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – Collegiate coaches Andrew Valmon and Amy Deem are on track to lead U.S. athletics teams at the 2012 London Olympics, sources familiar with the process told Reuters on Tuesday.

Valmon coaches at the University of Maryland and Deem at the University of Miami.

A USA Track and Field (USATF) selection committee over the weekend voted to recommend the coaches in the second of a five-step process, athletics sources said.

USATF’s competition committee, its board and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) also are required to approve and confirm the recommendations.

Traditionally those groups have accepted the selection committee’s recommendations, the sources said.

USATF president Stephanie Hightower confirmed the selection committee had met but would not discuss names.

“I would never want to usurp the USOC’s authority to say who is on track and who is not,” she told Reuters in a telephone interview from Columbus, Ohio.

RALEIGH, North Carolina, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Collegiate coaches Andrew Valmon and Amy Deem are on track to lead U.S. athletics teams at the 2012 London Olympics, sources familiar with the process told Reuters on Tuesday.

Valmon coaches at the University of Maryland and Deem at the University of Miami.

A USA Track and Field (USATF) selection committee over the weekend voted to recommend the coaches in the second of a five-step process, athletics sources said.

USATF’s competition committee, its board and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) also are required to approve and confirm the recommendations.

Traditionally those groups have accepted the selection committee’s recommendations, the sources said.

USATF president Stephanie Hightower confirmed the selection committee had met but would not discuss names.

“I would never want to usurp the USOC’s authority to say who is on track and who is not,” she told Reuters in a telephone interview from Columbus, Ohio.

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) – Olympic bronze medalist Walter Dix edged out Tyson Gay in the former world champion’s hotly-anticipated return to the 200 meters at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting Saturday.

In the 110 meters hurdles, American David Oliver recorded the fourth fastest 110 meters hurdles of all time with a 12.90 second run.

Gay, who has been battling a nagging hamstring problem for seven weeks, ran his first 200 of the year in 19.76 seconds to finish just shy of Dix, who took control coming off the bend and stayed in front to win in 19.72.

“It wasn’t bad, but I was a little fatigued toward the end,” Gay said. “I tried to stay relaxed and bring it home, but it wasn’t enough.”

Dix, who won the 100 meters and placed second at the U.S. nationals last weekend, said his race experience had helped, “but I’m a little beat up, too.”

“I was a little sloppy out of the blocks, but I was able to hold on,” he added. “Tyson gave me great competition.”

Oliver, the Olympic bronze medalist, equaled Dominique Arnold’s national record with his second consecutive lifetime best. He ran 12.93 to win the U.S. championships last Sunday.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – An Olympic medalist who became an international marketing executive has expressed interest in the vacant top job at USA Track and Field.

USATF is seeking a new chief executive officer after its board fired Doug Logan earlier this month.

“I would consider it, if they approach me,” Bill Schmidt, the 1972 Olympic javelin bronze medalist, told Reuters in a recent telephone interview from Knoxville, Tenn.

“Having competed as an Olympic athlete, worked with (organizer) Peter Ueberroth at the (1984) L.A. Games and with a variety of international sports federations, (I) have credibility not only in the business world but also in the athletic arena,” said Schmidt.

Currently the leader of his own sports marketing firm, Schmidt, 62, spent 15 years as vice president for worldwide sports marketing for Gatorade, signing NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and other athletes.

Fund-raising and sponsorships are crucial for USATF, he said when asked about the governing body’s biggest needs.

“I can call on them and work in concert,” he said of corporate America.

RALEIGH, North Carolina, Sept 30 (Reuters) – An Olympic medallist who became an international marketing executive has expressed interest in the vacant top job at USA Track and Field.

USATF is seeking a new chief executive officer after its board fired Doug Logan earlier this month.

“I would consider it, if they approach me,” Bill Schmidt, the 1972 Olympic javelin bronze medallist, told Reuters in a recent telephone interview from Knoxville, Tenn.

“Having competed as an Olympic athlete, worked with (organizer) Peter Ueberroth at the (1984) L.A. Games and with a variety of international sports federations, (I) have credibility not only in the business world but also in the athletic arena,” said Schmidt.

Currently the leader of his own sports marketing firm, Schmidt, 62, spent 15 years as vice president for worldwide sports marketing for Gatorade, signing NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and other athletes.

Fund-raising and sponsorships are crucial for USATF, he said when asked about the governing body’s biggest needs.

“I can call on them and work in concert,” he said of corporate America.

RALEIGH, North Carolina, Sept 23 (Reuters) – After a tumultuous two years under a chief executive officer with a non-athletics background, USA Track & Field officials are insisting their new leader be familiar with the sport.

“It should be someone who is either in or has had a long history of dealing with the sport,” Steve Miller, chair of the search committee seeking a replacement for fired CEO Doug Logan, told Reuters in a telephone interview from Las Vegas.

“It does not have to come from a contemporary sports person.

“It can be an ex-athlete who is now a business person, a person who was a coach who is now a business person,” added the former Nike executive who is CEO of the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education and Agassi Graf Holdings.

Logan, a former Major League Soccer (MLS) commissioner with no track and field management experience, was fired Sept. 12 by the USATF board.

His outspoken, hands-on leadership and outsider’s push for change drew considerable fire from USATF members and athletes.

There were also concerns about his ability to find new sponsors.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – U.S. athletics officials, in a bid to stem relay failures at major championships, have called a summit for next month to discuss the problem.

Select athletes, coaches and officials tentatively will meet October 16 in Orlando, Florida, to talk about the good and bad of U.S. relay preparation and execution, USA Track and Field (USATF) chief of sport performance Benita Fitzgerald Mosley told Reuters via telephone from Indianapolis on Wednesday.

“We want to codify things that work well,” she said.

Lately that has been a short list for U.S. sprint relay teams.

Both the men’s and women’s 4×100 meters relay teams were disqualified at the 2008 Olympic Games and 2009 world championships because of dropped batons or other infractions.

Former USATF CEO Doug Logan, who was ousted over the weekend, initiated a review of the organization after the poor Olympic showing, and it called for significant changes in U.S. relay preparations.

The summit, in the planning stage for months, is the first of its kind since that review, said Fitzgerald Mosley, the 1984 Olympic 100 meters hurdles champion.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – USA Track and Field has sacked its outspoken chief executive Doug Logan, ending his embattled two years in charge of the governing body.

The former Major League Soccer (MLS) commissioner became CEO just before the 2008 Olympics and set in motion a major review of USATF after the U.S. athletics team’s poor showing in Beijing.

The study resulted in sweeping proposals for change, not all of which were greeted favorably by athletes and long-time members of the organization.

The decision to oust him came at a meeting in Las Vegas at the weekend, USATF said in a statement Monday.

“The board decided based upon the (performance) evaluation (of Logan) the organization needed a different kind of leadership in order to get the results that we need,” USATF president and board chair Stephanie Hightower told Reuters.

Neither she nor vice chair Jack Wickens would say specifically why Logan was ousted.

Logan’s hands-on leadership and push for change had drawn fire from some within the organization but others said those were not the reasons for his dismissal. They would not elaborate.

13 (Reuters) – USA Track and Field has sacked its outspoken chief executive Doug Logan, ending his embattled two years in charge of the governing body.

The former Major League Soccer (MLS) commissioner became CEO just before the 2008 Olympics and set in motion a major review of USATF after the U.S. athletics team’s poor showing in Beijing.

The study resulted in sweeping proposals for change, not all of which were greeted favorably by athletes and long-time members of the organisation.

The decision to oust him came at a meeting in Las Vegas at the weekend, USATF said in a statement on Monday.

“The board decided based upon the (performance) evaluation (of Logan) the organisation needed a different kind of leadership in order to get the results that we need,” USATF president and board chair Stephanie Hightower told Reuters.

Neither she nor vice chair Jack Wickens would say specifically why Logan was ousted.

Logan’s hands-on leadership and push for change had drawn fire from some within the organisation but others said those were not the reasons for his dismissal. They would not elaborate.