SAINT-DENIS, France -- Jerome Young says he never committed a doping offense. World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound says he still wants a full investigation.

Despite Young's denial, controversy over the American sprinter's alleged positive drug test three years ago is far from over and looks certain to occupy international Olympic and track and field officials for the coming weeks.

Young, the 400-meter gold medal winner at the World Championships this week, was quoted in the Los Angeles Times on Friday as acknowledging that he tested positive for steroids in 1999 but was cleared on appeal by U.S. track authorities. He competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and won a gold medal in the 1,600 relay.

"Yes, it's something that happened," Young was quoted as saying.

But Young issued a statement later Friday contesting the interpretation of his remarks.

"Since I won the 400 meters on Tuesday night, some journalists have asked me about the impact of recent news stories on my outlook at the World Championships," he said. "I have responded by saying that the stories have happened, I've put them behind me and moved on.

"I wish to make clear that I have never committed a doping offense."

Young's statement stopped short of a denial that he was the previously unidentified athlete who was exonerated of a drug offense and went on to win a gold medal in Sydney.

Interviewed Friday by The Associated Press at a practice track in Paris, Young declined to address the allegations.

"I can't talk about that, I don't want to comment on that," he said. "I'm just here to race. ... I just want to keep focusing on my race."

Young is scheduled to run in the 1,600 relay at the world meet this weekend.

Pound, meanwhile, said he would keep up the pressure to reopen the case and strip the U.S. relay team of the Sydney gold medal. He said he would intervene directly with the International Association of Athletics Federations, USA Track & Field and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

"Now that the name is out and you have an acknowledgment of the athlete involved, I think that's everything you need," Pound told the AP by telephone from Montreal. "The IAAF is in a position to act. It has both the means and the duty to act."

But Arne Ljungqvist, the IAAF's vice president and anti-doping chief, said the world body can't take action without a "clear and verifiable" admission from the athlete involved.

"If he admits that he was the unidentified athlete who tested positive, the door has been opened for us to ask USATF for the full information," he said in an interview. "That's not the case so far. We need him to inform us directly, not via the media."

Ljungqvist said the IAAF doesn't require an admission that the athlete took drugs, only that he was the athlete at the center of the case.

"A positive drug test does not immediately mean a doping offense," he said. "This needs to be evaluated. The exoneration by USATF may have been right."

The U.S. federation refused to provide the information to the IAAF, citing confidentiality rules. The dispute went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled in January that USATF did not have to disclose details of that case and 12 other positive tests from 1996-2000.

"I think this will go on for some time and become clarified," Ljungqvist said. "The best thing to happen would be for the athlete involved to approach us directly and say, 'Yes, it was me.' Then we could get the full files of the case and review it and put a full end to this story."

IOC president Jacques Rogge sent a letter to the IAAF and USOC "strongly urging them to pursue the matter." The issue will be examined by the IOC executive board at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, next month.

Young ran the first leg in the opening round and semifinal heats of the relay in Sydney but didn't run in the final. The U.S. team, anchored by Michael Johnson, finished ahead of the Jamaicans and Russians. All six members of the U.S. relay squad collected golds.