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The lifetime ban of a top Chinese swimmer reflects the “zero-tolerance” doping policy of both the Beijing Olympic organisers and the host nation, state press said today.
Ouyang Kunpeng, 25, was banned for life last Friday by the China Swimming Association after he tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance in a May 1 out-of-competition test.
“This incident fully shows the position on doping of the Chinese government, the host of the 29th Olympiad: Chinese athletes participating in the Games must be completely clean,” the Hexun website, one of China’s top financial portals, said in a commentary.
“At the same time we must show the world the determination to implement a zero-tolerance doping policy at the Beijing Olympics.”
Ouyang, 25, a three-time Asian Games medallist, was expected to contend for a podium finish in the backstroke.
His ban for testing positive for clenbuterol, a muscle-building drug, came just over a month before the Beijing Games begin on August 8.
According to international rules, life bans are handed down after an athelete is caught doping for the second time, while a two-year ban is normally meted out to first-time offenders like Ouyang.
“Ouyang’s ban proves nothing but our determination to weed out dope cheats among Chinese athletes,” Xinhua news agency quoted China’s doping czar Yuan Hong as saying.
“No matter how excellent an athlete is, he or she will be severely punished once tested positive.”
Chinese press reports said Ouyang was innocent and that the banned substance was in a meat tenderiser that he ate unknowingly at a barbeque.
“After undergoing widespread expert analysis, everyone believes that Ouyang Kunpeng must have mistakenly eaten the banned drug,” the Nanjing Daily said.
“But in order to ensure that China’s Olympic team is absolutely clean, the only thing the swimming association could do was express sympathy with him while showing no tolerance.”
After its athletes were caught using illegal substances at high-level sports competitions in the 1990s, China’s sports administration was widely accused of institutionalised doping and of officially condoning cheating.