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Chinese Swimming Star Plans to Fight Doping Decision
A Chinese swimming star plans to challenge China's decision to ban her from the Sydney Olympics for alleged steroid use, a state-run newspaper reported Thursday.
Wu Yanyan, world record holder in the women's 200-meter medley, was barred from competing for four years when she failed a drug test in May at the Chinese National Championships.
State media have reported that the 22-year-old from the southern region of Guangxi tested positive for the steroid 19-Norandrosterone.
On Thursday, the Beijing Morning Post quoted Wu as saying she did not use the drug.
She also said that five days before the Chinese test, she passed a similar test given by FINA, the governing body of world swimming.
Wu said that she and the Guangxi Swimming Association plan to sue the China Swimming Association for banning her.
Banning Wu hurts China's gold-medal prospects at the Olympics in September. But China is trying to restore its sports reputation with an anti-doping crackdown.
State media have emphasized that Wu was the first Chinese swimmer caught using a banned substance out of 271 athletes tested this year.
Wu set the 200-meter medley record of 2:09.72 in 1997 during China's national games in Shanghai. Her time of 2:14.02 at the Olympic trials in May was at that point the third-fastest this year.
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