SPORTS-CHINA: Drug Abuse Taints Sports Ambition (1)

BEIJING, Dic 14 (IPS) - Chinese officials are grim over the suspension beginning this month of several of its star amateur athletes because of drug use, but they say the incident has not made China less determined to become a global sports superpower.

In an interview with IPS, Chinese Olympic Committee Vice Chairman Yu Zhaiqing also said the use of a banned substance to enhance performance was a decision made by the athletes themselves without the knowledge of officials and should not taint China's entire sports programme.

Earlier this month, Japan announced that 11 Chinese athletes competing at the Asian Games in Hiroshima in October were found to have tested positive for dehydrotestosterone, a banned drug that increases strength and endurance.

Said Yu: "This is their personal action and responsibility should be borne by themselves after the truth of the matter has been investigated."

"This matter doesn't taint other Chinese athletes' good reputation," he added. "The athletes who took drugs will be banned in some sports programmes. But it doesn't mean other cleared athletes should be affected."

Seven of the athletes were members of China's star swimming team, including sensations Lu Bin and Yang Aihua. All of the 11 are now suspended for two years and will not be allowed to participate in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

China has pointed out that the number of its athletes found to be using banned drugs was a mere fraction of the more than 700-strong Chinese delegation at the Asiad.

"There is only one kind of drug taken by Chinese athletes at present, so this is not something rampant," argued Yu. "That some Chinese athletes used the same drug doesn't mean they are organised to take it."

But the incident has deeply embarrassed China, which has ambitions of not only become an economic and political powerhouse, but also wants to be at the forefront of global sports. Last year, China aggressively sought to win Beijing the right to host the 2000 Summer Olympics, but lost out to Sydney in Australia.

Since Ping Pong diplomacy in the 1970s marked the return of isolated China to the international community, sports has become an means for the Asian giant to attract world attention and gain respect. China even began a sports programme in which children were taken in at an early age for intensive athletic training.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service