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China swimming sets anti-drug steps
Posted: Saturday December 04, 1999 12:16 PM
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Steps are being taken to crack down on the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Chinese swimmers. The measures, to be taken by China and FINA, the sport's world governing body, include the country's state-run swimming body appointing a full-time antidoping official and making the awarding of cash prizes dependent on staying drug-free for four years. Also, a nationwide registry was to be created to make it easier to track down swimmers for surprise drug tests. A delegation from FINA was visiting China to check enforcement of antidoping steps announced in 1998 after a number of Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned drugs. Drug scandals have cast a pall over a Chinese program that produced Olympic and world swimming champions in the 1990s. Seven Chinese swimmers tested positive for steroids at the 1994 Asian Games. Last year, four Chinese tested positive for banned substances at the World Championships in Perth, Australia, and one was caught with vials of human growth hormone in her luggage. FINA delegation member Sam Ramsamy said on Friday that China acted on most of the federation's 1998 recommendations, but had to improve coordination with the international body. "Our concern was not on the decisions taken (by China), but how they were executed," said Ramsamy, who is president of the South African Olympic committee. In one case, Ramsamy said, China failed to tell FINA that it had reduced its penalty for anabolic steroid use from a lifetime ban to the FINA standard of four years. The measures announced Friday included promises by China to coordinate antidoping efforts with FINA and keep the federation better informed of its activities. China already has instituted what FINA calls one of the world's toughest antidoping programs. The Chinese federation has conducted 217 drug tests at competitions this year, and 429 out of competition, according to Ramsamy. Four swimmers from Shanghai were suspended for two years for drug use, and three others banned for four years, the Chinese federation says. In August, FINA said the Chinese association reported that one swimmer was banned for four years and two coaches for one year each.
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