Olympics: No NZ athletes among new positive doping tests - NZOC

Secretary general Barry Maister said the NZOC has not been contacted by the IOC in regards to the seven positive drugs results found in re-testing. Photo / Kenny Rodger

No New Zealand athletes at last year's Beijing Olympics have been netted in a re-testing of samples by the International Olympics Committee (IOC).

The IOC announced today it had discovered seven more positive drugs results from re-testing samples taken at last year's Beijing Games, involving six athletes.

All of them tested positive for CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator), the new generation of banned blood-booster erythropoietin (EPO), during the Olympics last August.

"Of 948 samples that were analysed, seven resulted in an adverse analytical finding (AAF) concerning six athletes," the IOC said in a statement.

The latest round of testing, which began in January, focused primarily on endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and athletics, the IOC said.

It is IOC policy to contact athletes via their national Olympic committees when positive samples are found.

"The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) can confirm that it has not been contacted by the IOC in relation to the adverse analytical findings (AAF) announced today concerning six athletes at Beijing 2008," its secretary general Barry Maister said.

"The NZOC shares the IOC's commitment to preventing drug-use in sport and we fully support its zero-tolerance policy.

"We are pleased that New Zealand Olympic athletes continue to show respect for fair play in competition and are not involved in these adverse findings," he said.

"New Zealand Olympic athletes take pride in competing cleanly and we're certainly working hard to ensure this continues," Maister added.

- NZPA