DENVER -- The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency was dismissed Tuesday as a defendant in a suit filed by Dr. Wade Exum, who once oversaw the U.S. Olympic Committee's drug enforcement efforts.

Exum's suit, which also named the USOC as a defendant, claimed he was passed over for the director's job of the anti-doping agency because he is black.

U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ruled Exum hadn't proved that he formally applied for the job or that he was discriminated against. He granted the agency's motion for summary judgment in its favor.

Exum's attorney, John Pineau, said he had not seen the decision and didn't know whether it would be appealed.

"To the extent that it simplifies the trial, I suppose it strengthens our presentation,'' he said.

Travis Tygart, the anti-doping agency's director of legal affairs, said it was important that the order found no evidence of racial discrimination. He said the judge ruled that even if Exum had applied for the job, the standards the agency used to chose a different director were reasonable.

Exum's suit also accuses the USOC of hampering his anti-drug battle when he was director of the USOC's Drug Control Administration and of denying him promotions because he is black.

The suit was scheduled to go to trial on Monday.

The USOC has also filed a motion for summary judgment, but Blackburn has not ruled on it, said Jeff Benz, USOC's general counsel.

"We were always certain that the creation of USADA had nothing to do with Dr. Exum's claims of discrimination,'' Benz said.

Exum resigned from the Drug Control Administration in 2000 after the USOC decided to turn over testing to an independent, external agency. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency was established that year to take over the job.

Exum's suit claims that about half the American athletes who have tested positive for prohibited substances have gone unpunished in the quest to win medals. The USOC denies it.

Exum has said he has records documenting the drug-use claims. Pineau said Tuesday that Exum plans to introduce the records as evidence in the trial if the judge allows it.