Special report:
2008 Olympic
Games
by Sportswriter Ma Xiangfei
BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- China played tough hand
in cracking down on drug cheats with more frequent no-notice tests and severe
punishments ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games in a bid to ensure a clean team.
Eight positive cases have been found with cheating
athletes and concerned coaches having been punished until June 20 after over 5,000 tests
were carried out, Zhao Jian, deputy director general of the China Anti-Doping
Agency (CHINADA) told Xinhua on Wednesday.
In the most recent case, a wrestling player was found
using diuretic, which brought life-time bans to him and his coach.
Chinese men's top backstroker Ouyang Kunpeng, the
most famous among the eight violators, namely two from diving, two from
athletics, two from swimming, one from weightlifting and one from wrestling,
also received a life-time ban after tested positive forclenbuterol, an anabolic
steroid, and his coach Feng Shangbao was banned for life too.
"This proves that our anti-doping system is working
well. We will catch those who dare to cheat," said Zhao in the newly-finished
CHINADA building which includes a world-level laboratory serving the Olympic
Games.
Head of the Chinese Olympic Committee Anti-Doping
Commission Yuang Hong agreed.
"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," she said.
"Ouyang's ban proves nothing but our determination to
weed out dope cheats among Chinese athletes. No matter how excellent an athletes
is, he or she will be severely punished once tested positive," said Yuan who is
on a nationwide inspection to tighten management of performance-enhancing drug
suppliers and manufacturers ahead of the Olympics.
The inspection, conducted by eight government
departments, would specially focus on Olympic host cities and regions with a
concentrated chemical industry.
"It's a wake-up call to those who attempt to cheat,"
she said.
However, Chinese anti-doping workers admitted that
doping can't be eliminated overnight.
"These positive cases also prove that the fight
against doping is a long, hard task because there are always some people
believing they can get away," he said.
Zhao said until June 20 CHINADA had carried out 5236
of the planned 9500 tests, supported by the central government fund.
"Over 80 percent of the tests were no-notice
out-of-competition tests, and most of them fell on athletes preparing for the
Olympics," he said.
"They could take as many as 15 tests in the past six
months," he said, adding that Olympic and world 110m hurdles champion Liu Xiang
had taken six to seven out-of-competition tests besides the ones he had at
international events.
"The number of tests will probably exceed what was
planned," he said.
The Beijing Olympic Games will kick start on Aug. 8
through to 24.
China goes aggressive on doping as
Olympics draw near
BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- "Is that all? Show me recipes for a
whole month."
Dissatisfied by a thin pad of prescriptions offered by an
employee at a west Beijing chemist's, Wang Zhexiong demanded more to check
whether rules were being followed in the selling of medicine containing
performance-enhancing substances. Full story
China's drug regulator reiterates rule
on doping agents
BEIJING,
June 30 (Xinhua) -- China's top drug regulator reiterated a call against doping,
posting a web notice requiring pharmacies to abide strictly by an earlier
provision on sales of doping agents.
The rule, which took effect in March 2004, set stringent
requirements for the supervision and management of performance-enhancing drug
producers, including market entry, export approval and warning labels for
athletes. Full story
China's top swimmer Ouyang banned for
life
BEIJING, June 27 (Xinhua) -- China's top swimmer Ouyang Kunpeng has been banned
from competition for life after testing positive for steroid, a top Chinese
swimming official said here on Friday.
Ouyang, who won three silver medals in the 2006 Doha Asian
Games, failed an out-of-competition test which was conducted on May 1, said Li
Hua, director of the Chinese Swimming Administration Center, the country's
swimming governing body. Full story
China carries out nationwide
inspection on doping
BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- China will start a nationwide
inspection on Thursday to tighten management of performance-enhancing drug
suppliers and manufacturers ahead of the Olympics.
The inspection, conducted by the State Food and Drug Administration
(SFDA) with seven other government departments, would specially focus on Olympic
host cities and regions with a concentrated chemical industry. Full story
China enhances attack on doping agents
production, sale
BEIJING, June 18 (Xinhua) -- China has punished 125
medicine companies for illegally producing and distributing doping agents since
launching a nationwide campaign last year to ensure a drug-free Olympic Games,
said a senior drug official on Wednesday.
"Inspections show Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturers,
wholesalers and retailers have basically reached the requirements for doping
control," the State Food and Drug Administration's deputy chief Wu Zhen told
reporters. Full story
