Eight Chinese drug cheats banned

BEIJING – Eight Chinese athletes have been banned after being testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs during a crackdown ahead of the Beijing Olympics, state press reported yesterday Two of the athletes were with China’s national team, including wrestler Luo Meng and men’s swimmer Ouyang Kunpeng, whose lifetime ban was announced last week, the Titan Sports Weekly said.

Two coaches were also barred for life, including Ouyang’s coach Feng Shangbao and Luo’s trainer, who was not named, the paper said. Six other athletes at the provincial level two divers, two track and field athletes, a weightlifter and a swimmer have also tested positive for prohibited substances, it said.The positive results turned up amid 5,000 drug tests administered by China since January, the paper said.The six provincial athletes were banned from taking part in China’s National Games next year, it said.Luo tested positive for using a banned diuretic.Diuretics are weight-loss substances which are sometimes used to mask performance-enhancing drugs.Ouyang tested positive for clenbuterol, an anabolic steroid.”Finding drug cheats is not an embarrassment to us.On the contrary, it says what a firm stance we take in the fight against doping,” Xinhua news agency quoted Yuan Hong, head of China’s Olympic Committee Anti-Doping Commission, as saying.Nampa-ReutersSix other athletes at the provincial level two divers, two track and field athletes, a weightlifter and a swimmer have also tested positive for prohibited substances, it said.The positive results turned up amid 5,000 drug tests administered by China since January, the paper said.The six provincial athletes were banned from taking part in China’s National Games next year, it said.Luo tested positive for using a banned diuretic.Diuretics are weight-loss substances which are sometimes used to mask performance-enhancing drugs.Ouyang tested positive for clenbuterol, an anabolic steroid.”Finding drug cheats is not an embarrassment to us.On the contrary, it says what a firm stance we take in the fight against doping,” Xinhua news agency quoted Yuan Hong, head of China’s Olympic Committee Anti-Doping Commission, as saying.Nampa-Reuters