Hall overcomes cancer, then red tape to reach Olympics

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Three operations cured American Kevin Hall of testicular cancer and left him with an Olympic dilemma.

The burly sailor has to get weekly injections of testosterone _ which, of course, is a steroid. And his use of a performance-enhancing drug became a problem when he qualified for the Athens Games.

Since he first got cancer in 1990 in his final year at university, Hall has been living an odyssey.

"It was sort of shocking and terrifying at first," he said. "The first operation happened quickly. I went from sailing practice to the university infirmary and then I was on a plane that night, and had surgery the next day."

Hall had two separate bouts with cancer. It took three operations and nearly three years to win that fight. Then, another challenge arose for Hall, who grew up in California and now lives in Maryland on the east coast of the United States.

Because his testicles were removed, he requires weekly injections of testosterone.

"It's just the way it is," said Hall, who sails in the Finn class, which IOC president Jacques Rogge once sailed. "I lost the part of my body that produces that particular stuff. I'm fortunate that they have a good way to get a good substitute in there."

Still, after dominating the winner-take-all U.S. Olympic trials in February to qualify for Athens, Hall had to navigate some serious red tape. He had to prove to several sports governing bodies that he's not a drug cheat.

The IOC, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), the World Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency were all involved at one time or another.

It was a frustrating process that took nearly five months and was completed just five weeks before the 34-year-old Hall makes his Olympic debut Saturday on the Saronic Gulf.

The sailing federation gave Hall permission on May 26 to compete while using testosterone. It added a number of conditions recommended by the IOC, including a requirement that an independent referee reviews his medical file and approves his dosages.

Finally, on July 7, Hall got the all-clear signal. He didn't exactly celebrate.

"I feel a similar feeling to the day when we chose the mast I will use, not much more, as I have compartmentalized this aspect of my training as much as possible," Hall said. "Not a catharsis, not a huge relief, just one more of the steps toward performing well."

The next challenges are Britain's Ben Ainslie, who switched to the Finn after winning a gold medal in the Laser in 2000 and the silver in 1996, and Dean Barker, the skipper of Team New Zealand in the America's Cup.

Since 1992, Hall tried four times in three different classes to qualify for the Olympics. He first broached the subject of a therapeutic use exemption in 1995, but it didn't become an all-consuming issue until he qualified for these games.

Hall bulked up through weight training for the last America's Cup, when he was OneWorld's navigator, and decided to take up the physically demanding Finn. He has enjoyed jumping from the 24-meter (80-foot) America's Cup boats to the 4-meter (14-foot) dinghy.

"If you want to tack and go the wrong way, you can do it right away," he said.

"I had my head in the computer a fair bit of the time (on OneWorld), so it's nice to be wet and get your hands torn apart by the mainsheet for a nice change of pace."