Council for a Legit National Games
Tuesday, 27th October 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Guo Linna, a rower from Henan, was the first to fail a drug test at the games. Her positive result led to the withdrawal of her team from competition. (Reuters: Chinese rower fails doping test at National Games)
Wang Jing, a sprinter from Fujian province, was stripped of her 100 meter gold after a positive drug test. She's also been banned from the sport for life.
Li Jie, a pistol shooter from Inner Mongolia, tested positive for propranolol, a beta blocker used to prevent trembling (China Daily: Inner Mongolia stay despite positive test in National Games)
The diving allegations may be false, and the testing may have caught all the cheats (both unlikely, though), but there's another element that skews the results of the national games. Two teams--the host province and the People's Liberation Army team--get a leg up on the competition because they are free to recruit athletes nationally, instead of being limited to one province. With all but a few medals awarded, Shandong is on top in both golds (63) and overall medals (148). The PLA is in second place, with 49 golds and 120 overall. I'm not sure how long the host cities have enjoyed this privilege, but hosts have now topped the final gold medal count four times in a row.
China.org.cn: Doping, match fixing challenge China's efforts to ensure clean National Games
Tags: cheating, doping, national games, PLA, Zhou Jihong
Rogge expects more doping cases, Liu needs surgery
Monday, 10th November 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
A short glance at some of China's biggest current sports stories:Liu Xiang
Doctors that hurdler Liu Xiang visited in the United States agreed with his Chinese doctors in advising surgery for the Achilles tendon injury that kept him out of the Beijing Olympics.
Doping
The International Olympic Committee is still conducting doping tests from the August Olympics, and IOC president Jacques Rogge said he expects at least 15 cases from this year's Olympiad.
Diving
Former Chinese national team diving coach Yu Fen has threatened legal action against diving's administrative body, to secure several million yuan she believes she is owed in bonuses from her tenure with the team, which ended in 1997. Yu coached greats Guo Jingjing and Wu Mingxia.
Soccer/Football
Tickets are on sale for the Chinese women's national soccer team's match against gold medalists the United States at Detroit's Ford Field December 17.
Aquatics
Hong Kong is among the cities bidding to host the 2013 FINA World Championships. The world governing body for aquatic sports including swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming holds a world championship every year. The 2011 championships will take place in Shanghai.
Tags: diving, doping, FINA, football, Guo Jingjing, Liu Xiang, soccer, swimming, track and field, Wu Mingxia, Yu Fen
China's women swimmers challenging US, Australia dominance
Thursday, 14th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (2)
Chinese women are having a great morning in the pool, notching two silvers, a gold and a new world record. China only won two swimming medals in the 2004 Olympics.
Gold medallist Liu Zige
Liu Zige (刘子歌) won gold and Jiao Liuyang won silver in the women's 200 meters butterfly competition, in a rare 1-2 finish for Chinese swimmers. Liu swam a 2:04.18, a new world record and Jiao a 2:04.72.
China went on to win silver in another women's event, the 4 X 200 meters freestyle relay, with a time of 7:45.93. Gold went to Australia, and silver to the United States. Among the men, China's Wu Peng failed to medal in the 200 meter butterfly final, coming in more than two seconds behind bronze medal winner Takeshi Matsuda of Japan.
It should come as no surprise that China is having breakthroughs in the pool at this Olympics. Swimming offers 84 medals, making it a good target for China's effort to lead the gold and overall medal counts. The Chinese Swimming Association keeps its athletes out of most major international competition, so their best times were largely unknown before the games.
Unfortunately, this leads to some suspicion in the swimming world as to whether the athletes are clean. China has had some history with doping scandals, with positive tests after the team stormed the 1994 FINA World Championships, and with backstroker Ouyang Kunpeng failing a drug test earlier this year.
In the other pool, Ying Tung Natatorium, China's women's water polo team pulled off a major upset, beating a strong Russian team, 13-11. China had given reigning world champions the United States a scare two days before, losing by only one point, 12-11.
Image: Chinese Swimming Association
Tags: Beijing Olympics, doping, Jiao Liuyang, Liu Zige, Ouyang Kunpeng, swimming, water polo, Ying Tung Natatorium
China acknowledges Shanghai company's role in Greek doping bust
Saturday, 2nd August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China's Food and Drug Administration has officially assigned some responsibility in one of the biggest doping scandals of the year to a Shanghai company called Auspure Biotechnology, according to the Shanghai Daily.Eleven Greek weightlifters failed drug tests in April and the athletes' subsequent ban from the 2008 Olympics has pretty much destroyed the team's medal hopes. When the positive tests were announced, Greek coach Christos Iakovou said Auspure had sold him tainted vitamins without his knowledge, and claimed to have a written apology from the company as evidence.
"Investigations have since found that the Auspure Biotechnology Co did illegally smuggle and sell doping formulas," the Shanghai Daily quotes Gao Feng, an official of the Supervision Department of the State Food and Drug Administration, as saying at a press conference yesterday.
Related:
Greeks blame doping scandal on Chinese lab
Supplement company closed in doping scandal
Greek weightlifters' B sample positive, coach still blames Chinese firm
Tags: Auspure Biotechnology, Beijing Olympics, Christos Iakovou, doping, Gao Feng, Greece, Olympics
Seven more athletes fail drug tests
Thursday, 3rd July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
UPDATE: This AFP report names one of the tainted athletes, wrestler Luo Meng, and says that Luo's coach has also recieved a lifetime ban. The report implies that the others involved were provincial level athletes and not Olympic hopefuls for the 2008 games.Pre-Olympic drug testing by the China Anti-Doping Agency has outed seven more Chinese athletes, aside from swimmer Ouyang Kunpeng, who have taken banned substances (Xinhua report)
The report names no new names, but says that among the busted athletes are two divers, two track and field athletes, two swimmers, one weightlifter and one wrestler.
"Finding drug cheats is not an embarrassment to us. On the contrary, it says what a firm stance we take in the fight against doping," the article quotes Yuang Hong, head of the Chinese Olympic Committee Anti-Doping Commission, as saying after the news.
The story also says that 110-meter hurdler Liu Xiang has been tested at least six times outside of competition in the past six months.
Related:
Chinese swimmer fails drug test
Liaoning doping raid
Tags: doping, Ouyang Kunpeng, swimming, track and field, weightlifting, wrestling
Chinese Swimmer Fails Drug Test
Friday, 27th June 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (2)
Ouyang Kunpeng (Reuters)
China Sports Daily published statement from the Chinese Swimming Association, including the following:
"The swimmer Ouyang Kunpeng tested positive in an out-of-competition test on May 1. The Chinese Swimming Association decided to give him a life ban ... although we have done lots of work, this positive case still happened, which is a deep lesson for us. We are going to take a clear stand on anti-doping work and firmly crack down on any violations."
Ouyang had won several medals in international Asian competition and was one of China's best medal hopes in swimming. The Chinese team draws suspicion from the international swimming world, because of its quick ascent in the sport and its athletes' absence from most major international events. Before the 1998 FINA World Championships in Perth, Australia, four Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned diuretic triamterene.
Tags: Chinese Swimming Association, doping, Feng Shangbao, Ouyang Kunpeng, swimming
Greek Lifters Banned
Wednesday, 18th June 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The 11 Greek weightlifters who tested positive for steroids will definitely not compete in the Olympics in August. The International Weightlifting Federation has banned them for two years. The team can still send four clean athletes to Beijing.Related:
Greek Weightlifters' B Sample Positive, Coach Still Blames Chinese Firm
Greeks Blame Doping Scandal on Chinese Lab
Supplement Company Closed in Doping Scandal
Tags: doping, Greek, Olympics, weightlifting
Liaoning Doping Raid
Sunday, 8th June 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China has closed nine Liaoning pharmacies that were selling banned performance-enhancing substances, according to this report from The Guardian. Liaoning province produces more than its share of elite athletes, but has also been connected to other doping cases in the past.Tags: doping
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