Two more fail IAAF drugs test

John Capel and Natalya Sadova are the two biggest names to fall foul of competition drug tests carried out by the International Association of Athletics Federations this year.

The IAAF revealed at their council meeting in Beijing that their controllers had carried out 1,532 tests up to June 30 this year – with 16 proving positive.

American Capel is a former world 200 metres gold medallist, while Sadova is the reigning Olympic discus champion.

Capel has accepted committing a doping violation under IAAF rules when cannabis was found in his sample at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham on February 18.

The 27-year-old has been banned for two years from March 15, it being considered a second offence following a public warning in 2004.

That occurred just before the Olympic Games got underway and saw him withdrawn from the 4x400m relay, when he produced a positive test for marijuana at a team match between the USA, France and Germany in Munich.

With it being his first violation, he did not receive any suspension but he was warned any other positive test would result in a two-year suspension.

The All-Russian Athletics Federation banned Sadova for two years, when the prohibited substance methandienone – an anabolic agent – was discovered also in an in-competition test at the IAAF Grand Prix meeting in Hengelo on May 28.

The 34-year-old also won the 2001 World Championships title, but it was only discovered in last year that the gold medal had been taken away from her when testing positive for caffeine.

IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss revealed so far this year there have been 166 unsuccessful attempts to collect out-of-competition samples from athletes.

From this total, after investigation, 22 have been defined as missed tests.