Romania act on drug abuse

The Romanian Olympic Committee yesterday banned a hammer thrower and two footballers from competing for the country in the Olympics after the athletes tested positive for illegal drugs.

The hammer thrower Mihaela Melinte, who has held the world record in her specialist power event since 1999, was banned from Olympic competition for life after testing positive in May last year.

In addition the footballers, Adrian Neaga of Steaua Bucharest and Cristian Buturuga of Arges Pitesti, have also been suspended after testing positive in May following a league game. Both players were with Arges Pitesti at the time of their positive dope tests.

Dan Popper, the committee's secretary general, said the suspension were prove of Romania's commitment to stamping out drug use among their sportsmen and women. "We stand by a decision we made in 1999 to ban for life any athlete with a positive doping test," he said.

Melinte has lodged an appeal against her ban with the international sports tribunal in Switzerland, and she will be reinstated for Olympic eligibility if she can persuade that committee of her innocence, Popper said.

The Romanian bans apply only to the Olympic Games so that means that any athletes suspended can still take part in other competitions, such as the current athletics World Championships.

More than 20 Romanian athletes have been banned from the Olympics since 1999, when the Romanian Olympic Committee imposed its tough new policies against drug abuse in sport.