Hey Dopey, Don't Dope!

China Gets Tough On Olympic Cheats

August 15, 2008 10:58 AM
By Jo Ling Kent, ABC News Beijing

As the Chinese love to say (and sing) about their Olympics: they are ready. Ready for competitions, ready for tourists and – yes – even ready for doping athletes.

The China Anti-Doping Agency, the largest center of its kind in the world, was established in Beijing in 2007 to enforce what International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge said would be a "zero-tolerance" policy on doping. And this week, the agency is officially open for business.

Today in Beijing, two athletes -- a North Korean shooter and a Vietnamese gymnast -- were disqualified from the Games for failing doping tests administered as part of what organizers claim will be the most comprehensively monitored Games ever.

This morning, the IOC announced that North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su was stripped of his silver medal in the 50-meter pistol and bronze in the 10-meter air pistol after testing positive for propranolol.

This morning, the IOC announced that North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su was stripped of his silver medal in the 50-meter pistol and bronze in the 10-meter air pistol after testing positive for propranolol, a calming drug that lowers heart rate and blood pressure.

Vietnamese gymnast Thi Ngan Thuong Do, who finished last in the women's gymnastics floor exercise, was also disqualified after testing positive for the diuretic furosemide. Both of the athletes were disqualified and banned from the Beijing Games, effective immediately.

This brings the total number of athletes disqualified thus far from these Games to three. On Monday, Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno, 27, was Beijing's first competitor to fail a drug test, just hours after her arrival. She was immediately sent back to Spain. Experts and test administrators at the anti-doping agency expect to conduct approximately 4,500 tests in Beijing, inside and outside of competition.

The testing comes as no surprise. IOC president Jacques Rogge signaled early on that the doping would be aggressively investigated in Beijing. At the opening ceremonies, he not-so-subtly reminded athletes that doping of any kind was unacceptable. He said, "Remember that you are role models for the youth of the world. Reject doping and cheating. Make us proud of your achievements and your conduct."

In the Chinese blogosphere, there's been almost no buzz about the anti-doping incidents that unfolded today. Newspapers and magazines have yet to cover it. In general, fans seem to be fixated with Michael Phelps's sixth gold medal today and the American women's gymnastics domination of the medals podium. Today was an uncharacteristically slow day for Chinese gold medals. So far, they've picked up only two -- one in judo and another in women's weightlifting.