Kenyan boxer out of Athens Olympics for doping
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-08-11 14:12

Kenyan boxer David Munyasia has become the first athlete to test positive and be excluded out of the Athens Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in Athens on Tuesday.

IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies told reporters that the 24-year-old boxer, who was tested on the afternoon of August 6 during a training session, tested positive for Cathine, a prohibited stimulant called Bangi in Kenya.

He has been consequentially excluded from the Games, which will take place on August 13. The International Boxing Association has been requested to consider further action on the boxer.

The substance would incur unnecessarily a two-year ban but certainly means he had been disqualified from the Olympic games.

IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch said that Munyasia's B sample had confirmed his A sample result.

"So he had no explanation," said Schmasch.

All the athletes have been subject to random doping tests since the opening of the Olympic village on July 30.

Munyasi was caught as a result of the extended out-of-competition testing system starting from the Athens Games.

"In previous Games, in out-of-competition testing we only tested for steroids. (In) these Games we are testing for every banned substance on the IOC list," said Arnie Ljungqvist, chairmanof the IOC medical commission.

The IOC has stepped up the anti-doping campaign by increasing the number of tests at Athens by 25 percent compared to the tests conducted in Sydney.

"So far 224 tests (112 urine and 112 blood) have been performed out of the 3,000 tests that the IOC is expected to conduct throughout the period of the Games," said IOC in a statement.

The IOC is expecting more positive cases due to the increase oftests and extended out-of-competition tests.

But they look on the positive side saying that each positive case represents a victory in their anti-doping campaign.

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