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Russian pulled from Olympics amid doping reports

BEIJING (AP)—Russian steeplechase runner Roman Usov has been pulled out of the Beijing Olympics amid reports he failed a drug test conducted at the selection trials last month and only nine days after seven female athletes were implicated in a doping scandal.

“The Russian track and field federation has made the decision that this athlete will not start in Beijing,” team spokesman Gennady Shvets told The Associated Press on Saturday, a day after the opening ceremony.

Usov, 30, placed second at the national trials in Kazan, Russia, last month and had been listed to compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in China.

Russian media reported that Usov had tested positive for the banned substance Carphedon.

Usov’s case is another embarrassment for Russia’s athletics federation in the wake of suggestions from the head of the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission that the female athletes, accused of tampering with their urine samples, might have been involved in “systematic doping.”

After a 1 1/2-year investigation, the women were provisionally suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Among them was Yelena Soboleva, a world champion middle-distance runner who was among the favorites to win the 800 and 1,500 meters in Beijing.

“I think it is just frustrating to find that such type of cheating— planned cheating—is still going on,” IOC medical commission chairman Arne Ljungqvist told a news conference earlier this week in Beijing. “That’s very disappointing to find.”

Ljungqvist called on the Russian track and field federation to investigate.

“Obviously, the data are convincing,” Ljungqvist said. “The DNA analyses are 100 percent. So if the urine does not belong to the athlete … then they certainly have a case to answer. It’s a sad story.”

The IOC and the head of the IAAF’s anti-doping commission were unable to confirm if Usov, a three-time national champion, had failed the doping test.

The seven women, many of them potential Olympic medalists, come from several disciplines, from middle-distance running to the hammer and discus.

Compounding that, two of the three Russian race walkers banned earlier this week after testing positive to EPO in out-of-competition tests in April, had been due to compete in Beijing.

And the positive cases were not restricted to track and field. Cyclist Vladimir Gusev was dropped from the Russian squad for Beijing just days after his team said it terminated his contract because of irregular data that showed up in internal testing.

Gusev was tested out of competition in June by anti-doping expert Rasmus Damsgaard, who performs internal testing for Astana.

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