Sad day for sportsmanship

WINNIPEG, AUG 4: The world's most successful highjumper Javier Sotomayor has submitted a positive drug test after winning the title at th...

WINNIPEG, AUG 4: The world’s most successful highjumper Javier Sotomayor has submitted a positive drug test after winning the title at the Pan American Games for the fourth straight time, Radio Canada and CBC/TSN Television reported today.

Sotomayor, 31, submitted the sample after winning the title last Friday. The 1992 Olympic champion, 1993 and 1997 world champion and world record holder (2.45 metres) faces a two-year ban which could mean the end of his brilliant, but also injury-ridden career.

The Pan American sports body head Mario Vasquez Rana did not name Sotomayor, but confirmed that an athlete had tested positive for forbidden substances.“I will not give the name. But it is a male athlete,” Vasquez Rana told a news conference.

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Sotomayor is by far the most prominent case in athletics since Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was found guilty of drug abuse after winning the 1988 Olympics gold.

Christie suspended: Former Olympic 100-metre champion Linford Christie was suspended after a drugs testindicated the possible presence of steroids.Now in virtual retirement, Christie tested for metabolites of the steroid nandrolone in a urine sample taken at an indoor meet at Dortmund, Germany, in February.

The 39-year-old track star said today he was innocent. “It is ridiculous to imagine that I would take the drug after my retirement,” he said.

IAAF slaps two-year ban on Dennis The Menace

MONTE CARLO, AUG 4: American sprinter Dennis Mitchell was given a two-year suspension today by track’s world governing body after testing positive 16 months ago from high levels of testosterone.

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The IAAF arbitration panel concluded that Mitchell, the 100-metre bronze medalist in the 1992 Olympic Games, “had been guilty of a doping offence.” The IAAF said Mitchell’s period of ineligibility would be April 1, 1998, until March 31, 2000 which means he could return to action in eight months.All performances by Mitchell in the period from April 1, 1998, “are considered null and void,” the IAAF said. Mitchellhad no right of appeal, the IAAF said.

“There is no recourse for appeal. This decision is final and binding,” said IAAF spokesman Giorgio Reineri. Reineri said he did not consider it a light slap on the wrist since the 33-year-old Mitchell could be training again in time to run on the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

“This is the rule for everybody,” Reineri said. “According to our constitution, a ban starts the day after the positive doping test.”Mitchell ran a time of 10.09 seconds on Monday in a meet in Malmo, Sweden, leading fellow-American Maurice Greene for the first 50 metres before finishing second to Greene.

His best time this season is 10.02 with three other Americans having run faster. He has also ran a wind-assisted time of 9.9 earlier this season.

Associated Press