Judo champion stripped of title

BEIJING - Chinese Olympic judo champion Tong Wen has been banned for two years and stripped of her world title after failing a doping test at the world championships in the Netherlands last year.

Tong, who claimed the women’s 78-kilogram title at the 2008 Beijing Games and won a fourth world championship at Rotterdam, had tested positive for banned substance Clenbuterol, Chinese state media reported late on Saturday.

The International Judo Federation issued the ban at a council meeting in Tunis on Friday, Xinhua news agency said, citing a Chinese judo official. Ma Wenguang, the director of China’s weightlifting, wrestling and judo administration center, said the sport’s governing body “would seriously deal with it.” The International Judo Federation was unavailable for comment.

Clenbuterol is often used to treat breathing disorders, rising blood pressure and for oxygen transportation.

“[It] can boost muscle, like an anabolic steroid,” Zhao Jian, deputy director of the China Anti-Doping Agency, told Xinhua.

Tong, China’s most successful judoka, won three world titles in the 78-kilogram class between 2005-2009 and one in the open category in 2003.

Reuters