JOIN USNine track and field athletes have been handed lengthy bans for doping violations in a crackdown on the use of prohibited substances in the lead up to the London Olympics, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said on Wednesday.
The athletes were all caught with the aid of the Athlete Biological Passport programme, which will be used at an Olympics for the first time in London. Three of the offences dated back to the world championships held in Daegu, South Korea last year.
Inna Eftimova of Bulgaria tested positive for synthetic growth hormone, while the samples of Ukrainians Nataliya Tobias and Antonina Yefremova both contained traces of synthetic testosterone. All three were banned for two years.
Moroccan Goumri was among the six athletes who were monitored after irregularities showed up in their “biological passports.”
The others were Russians Svetlana Klyuka, Yevgenina Zinurova and Nailiya Yulamanova, along with Irini Kokkinariou of Greece and Turkey's Meryem Erdogan.