Athletics: Mitchell faces two-year drug ban

DENNIS MITCHELL, the American sprinter under investigation for alleged doping offences, has tested positive for excessive levels of testosterone in his second urine sample, the International Amateur Athletic Federation confirmed in Budapest yesterday.

The original, or A sample, exceeded the limit for the male hormone following an out-of-competition test on 1 April in Gainesville, Florida. An IAAF spokesman, Giorgio Reineri, said that the B sample, taken from the same urine and examined at a laboratory in Montreal, was also over the limit.

Mitchell, the 1992 Olympic bronze medallist at 100 metres, will be banned for two years unless he wins an appeal before the three-member Doping Heard Board of USA Track and Field.

Mitchell, twice a bronze medallist at the World Championships and a member of the two US teams that share the world record in the 400m relay, is also president of USATF's Athletes Advisory Committee, the athletes' voice in the national governing body. The committee has taken a hard stance against doping.

Australian Olympic officials were facing the embarrassment of a drugs scandal yesterday just 24 hours before they confront International Olympic chiefs to push for the introduction of tough new laws on doping.

The Australian Olympic Committee confirmed newspaper reports that an Australian athlete had tested positive for a banned substance, but would not name the competitor nor the sport.

The news came just as Kevan Gosper, the Australian delegate to the International Olympic Committee, was preparing to present to the IOC's executive board in Switzerland an Australian proposal to tackle drugs in sport.