On the brink of the Olympic Games in Athens, longtime Stanford women's swimming coach Richard Quick and some of his athletes are the focus of parallel investigations into the possible use of banned substances.

Stanford athletic director Ted Leland said Wednesday that the school recently launched an independent examination of the shoulder patches worn by six of Quick's swimmers last month at the U.S. Olympic trials. The patches stirred so much suspicion among other coaches, USA Swimming requested samples from Quick, which were then sent to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

USADA spokesman Rich Wanninger declined comment, but his agency apparently is looking into another doping matter linked to Quick. Dr. Glen Luepnitz, a Texas cancer specialist and nutritionist, was quoted in an Australian newspaper last week as saying one or two U.S. swimmers used MediTropin, a banned performance-enhancing drug, weeks before the Sydney Games in 2000.

Quick brought Luepnitz aboard as a nutritional consultant in 2000, to work with Stanford swimmers. Luepnitz also advised some Olympic swimmers that year, when Quick was head coach of the U.S. women's team.

In a telephone interview with The Chronicle on Wednesday, Luepnitz said he received a call earlier in the day from USADA senior managing director Larry Bowers to arrange a subsequent conversation. Luepnitz denied to The Chronicle telling the Australian paper that U.S. swimmers used MediTropin. The International Olympic Committee also has started an inquiry into the report, though Luepnitz said he had not been contacted by IOC officials.

This burgeoning controversy prompted Quick, an assistant coach on this year's U.S. women's team, to issue a statement Wednesday in Athens.

"I don't want this to continue through this meet," he said. "If there's going to be an investigation, I will gladly answer any questions the IOC, WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) or USADA have.

"Glen was not on the staff in 2000, but he was a nutritional adviser to some of my athletes. Not one of my athletes took any performance-enhancing drugs, and they have never failed any drug tests."

All of this unfolds at a time of unprecedented focus on doping issues in sports. Nearly a year after the BALCO scandal broke, news spills forth almost daily: Wednesday, U.S. track and field sprinter Torri Edwards drew a two-year suspension (pending her appeal) for using a banned stimulant.

As these issues play out on a global stage, Stanford fields questions about Quick, a three-time Olympic head coach who has guided Stanford to seven NCAA titles in his 17 years at the school. Leland said he became aware of the LifeWave Energy Enhancer patches in January or February, soon after Quick learned of them. They are designed to stimulate acupuncture points and improve stamina.

Leland got samples in February, checked out the LifeWave Products Web site and discussed the patches with Stanford swimmers. When the issue resurfaced during last month's trials, Stanford officials sent the patches to an independent laboratory.

Leland "can't say all the patches are benign," but he said test results so far have come back negative for banned substances.

"I have full confidence in Richard Quick," Leland said. "I just can't imagine, given his public and vociferous pushing for comprehensive testing and clean sport, that he would do anything to go against that. His whole professional reputation is built on clean sport and testing, and holding athletes accountable."

Leland acknowledged the concern of high-ranking university officials since The Chronicle's story about the patches on July 30. Leland said he has had conversations about the subject with those above him in the Stanford administration.

"Anytime we hit the front page of the paper, we're going to have other people at Stanford concerned," Leland said.

Leland also expressed concern about last week's reports involving Luepnitz. Quick called Luepnitz a couple of months before the 2000 Olympic trials, Luepnitz said, after hearing about him from a friend who was one of Luepnitz's colleagues in Austin, Texas.

Luepnitz came to Stanford and spoke to Cardinal swimmers a handful of times, by his recollection. He said he talked about "how to beat cheaters without cheating," preaching the value of proper sleep, diet and stress reduction. Luepnitz said he advised some athletes to use multivitamins and glutamine, an amino acid, to aid in their training.

Luepnitz first surfaced publicly during the 2000 Summer Games, when Quick made him available to the media in Sydney to talk about the supplements some U. S. swimmers were taking. Soon thereafter, a published report raised questions about Luepnitz's educational background: He received his doctorate from LaSalle University in Louisiana, a school that offered courses through the mail and was unaccredited, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Asked about the story Wednesday, Luepnitz said he received his Ph.D. from LaSalle "before they got involved in selling degrees." He said that does not change his knowledge base or the fact "these athletes did not cheat," though he acknowledged it "raises huge questions."

Leland knew about Luepnitz's role as a nutritional adviser to Quick's swimmers in 2000, but he did not connect Luepnitz to the story about the unaccredited school until earlier this week.

Asked if that's troubling, Leland said, "Yeah. It will be interesting to follow this through. I have full confidence in Richard, but it does give you cause for pause."

Luepnitz insisted to The Chronicle that he knows of no Stanford or U.S. Olympic athlete who cheated. He said the reporter for News Limited Australia, Los Angeles-based correspondent Nick Papps, began their phone interview by saying he had first-hand knowledge that Luepnitz's athletes were using MediTropin, a banned human growth hormone.

Luepnitz said he made a mistake by getting into a hypothetical discussion with Papps, wondering who could afford MediTropin.

"Far and away, USA Swimming has the cleanest athletes I've ever worked with," Luepnitz said. "They're paranoid. They were afraid to even drink out of a water bottle."

Luepnitz said he was referring to legal supplements, not MediTropin, when he told Papps, "Some of the team members used it as part of their training."

"I stand by the story," Papps said Wednesday. "The conversation was about many things, but this information about usage was specifically about MediTropin."

The story clearly grabbed the attention of USA Swimming officials, who gathered for a previously scheduled news conference in Athens. Before the news conference began, USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus released a statement saying his organization had "absolutely no knowledge of any inappropriate activity involving performance-enhancing drugs among our swimming athletes at the Sydney Games."

Quick did not make himself available to answer questions Wednesday. In an interview with The Chronicle on July 27, he offered a mixed view of swimming's ability to steer clear of the doping scandals sweeping through other sports.

"I think it would be nave to think that throughout the world our sport is clean," Quick said then. "I think the overwhelming majority of swimmers are dedicated to having as clean a sport as possible. But I think you have to say there are some outlaws out there."

E-mail the writers at rkroichick@sfchronicle.com and mfainaru-wada@sfchronicle.com.