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Ten positive from 3 000 tests
20/03/2008 16:44 - (SA)
Monte Carlo - The International Association of Athletics Federations found 10 positive results in more than 3 000 doping tests in 2007.
The IAAF said on Thursday it performed 3 277 doping tests last year, with 1 426 of those coming during competitions. Another 92 tests were from pre-competition tests and the remaining 1 759 were out-of-competition controls.
Eight of the 10 positive results came from out-of-competition tests. The IAAF said there are other cases still pending.
"I am proud that the IAAF continues to conduct one of the world's largest out-of-competition testing programmes and the crucial importance of this is shown in the fact that the majority of our positive results are found in this form of testing," IAAF president Lamine Diack said in a statement.
Distance runner Susan Chepkemei of Kenya and Lyubov Denisova of Russia were the two biggest names busted in 2007.
Chepkemei was given a one-year ban after testing positive for salbutamol in an out-of-competition test. She won the 2001 Rotterdam Marathon and was also a world half marathon silver medalist.
Denisova, a two-time Los Angeles Marathon champion and former runner-up in Boston and New York, tested positive for an elevated testerone-to-epitestosterone ratio on March 20 at her home in Gainesville, Florida, and was given a two-year ban.
Diack said the IAAF has already turned its focus toward the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"The IAAF will use every method available to it in the next five months to chase down the minority of athletes who may be thinking of cheating and committing fraud against their fellow competitors in Beijing," Diack said.
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