Chinese Olympic team caught in drugs net

International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch said on Wednesday he welcomed the news.

“I am not disappointed” he said. “I am very pleased, very happy … that’s very good news.” Samaranch said it meant the new system of dope testing would work very well.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates told reporters China had dumped seven rowers and another 20 athletes from other sports.

Coates read a letter which he received in his role as an executive member of the International Rowing Federation, stating China’s decision to cut the athletes, which includes seven rowers.

“The blood index of the rowers was over the IOC standards and therefore they have been withdrawn to protect the health of the rowers and uphold the fairness of the Games,” the letter from the Chinese Olympic committee read.

Coates said he understood athletes from other sports including swimming, canoeing and athletics were among those cut from the Chinese team.

Chinese IOC member He Zhenlaing, who arrived in Sydney on Wednesday, said he knew nothing of the drug tests.

“I have not heard from the Chinese delegation. I didn’t hear anything about it, I left on Tuesday,” he told reporters.

IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch said they had been notified officially of only seven rowers failing drug tests after carrying out blood tests for EPO.

Sydney Olympic organisers said they had been told by the Chinese National Olympic Committee they would not need up to 40 of the beds they had been allocated.

This may include a number of officials and coaches as well as the 27 athletes Coates referred to.

The news followed the IOC’s decision to approve blood testing for the first time at Sydney to catch athletes using the endurance drug EPO or erythropoietin.

Australian Sports Drug Agency officials have already started testing athletes as they arrive in Australia. They hope to test 400 athletes for EPO before the Games start on September 15.

Another 2,000 athletes will also be tested in Australia for other performance-enhancing drugs.

“We wanted these tests to be preventive and it seems to be working,” Samaranch said.

He said they were still waiting to hear from Beijing what type of test had been conducted but added the Chinese NOC had indicated the rowers had been withdrawn because their red blood cell count was above the authorised level.

The international rowing federation, FISA, said on its website, 10 of China’s 17 rowers had been dropped, including Zhang Xiuyun who won the women’s single sculls at the Zurich World Cup in June.

FISA’s website quoted the Chinese Rowing Association as saying the rowers returned results above the IOC blood index levels used to measure EPO levels, but not necessarily officially positive.

IOC vice-president Anita Defrantz, a FISA vice-president, said she was disappointed but that it sent the right message to drug cheats.

“It’s always disappointing to me to learn that athletes are cheating,” she said.

“This is a warning to all athletes who wish to come to the Games with drugs in their system — stay at home.”

Samaranch said the news proved China was serious about stamping out doping. “After what happened two years ago they said they would fight against it (doping),” he said.

Four Chinese swimmers were embroiled in a doping scandal after customs officials found 13 vials of human growth hormone in the luggage of Yuan Yuan when she flew in for the World Swimming Championships in Perth in 1998.

Two months ago Wu Yanyan, World champion and record holder in the women’s 200 metre individual medley, was thrown out of the Olympic team after testing positive for drugs.