The Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 25 July 2001 Tom Knight CHINA'S decision to appoint Ma Junren as deputy head coach of their team for the world championships could backfire after the suspension of two of his athletes for failing drug tests. Ma's techniques have been under suspicion ever since his "army" of female runners swept the board at the 1993 world championships before going on to smash world records at 3,000m and 10,000m at the Chinese national championships. Those performances and others since have been clouded by allegations of drug abuse though Ma claimed they were the result of training and a diet of turtle blood and caterpillars. Last year, six of Ma's runners were among 27 athletes dropped from the Chinese Olympic team when tests showed they might have taken the banned blood-boosting drug, erythropoietin (EPO). Liqing Song was one of them. Yesterday, the International Amateur Athletic Federation announced that she, along with Lili Yin, the 1998 world junior champion at 3,000m and 5,000m, had been banned for two years after failing out-of-competition tests last July. Earlier this week, senior Chinese officials appeared confused by the alarm over Ma's appointment. Lou Dapeng, an IAAF vice-president and a member of Beijing's successful 2008 Olympic bid team, even denied there had been allegations against Ma. The Chinese team in Edmonton contain three of Ma's athletes, including Dong Yanmei and Lan Lixin, who were also dropped from the Olympics. Their presence is bound to attract the attention of the IAAF's out-of-competition testing team in Canada. More controversy for China would mean an early test of their relationship with the International Olympic Committee, whose new president, Jacques Rogge, is determined to pursue the war against drug takers. Speaking in Spain yesterday, Rogge ruled out any reduction in the list of banned doping substances, a policy proposed by his predecessor Juan Antonio Samaranch. Said Rogge: "With all due respect, he is not aware of the reality in sports medicine and doping." Eamonn Condon www.RunnersGoal.com
