Steroids Found At Chinese Sports School

August 23, 2006

Christopher Cornell - All Headline News Staff Writer

Beijing, China (AHN) - The use of performance enhancing drugs has expanded beyond professional sport and is now affecting youth sports across the globe. Students at a sports school in northeastern China were caught using performance enhancing steroids in a drug raid on Tuesday.

Officials from China's Olympic Committee Anti-Doping Commission and other high-level sports administrators made a surprise inspection of the Liaoning Anshan Athletics School on August 8.

The Xinhua New Agency said the authorities found evidence of drug use.

"They found appalling evidence of collective doping," Xinhua said. "Officials caught school staff injecting teenage students with banned substances and confiscated illegal drugs including erythropoietin (EPO) and testosterone."

Hypodermic needles were found in the facility as well.

Students were training for a competition in the Liaoning province, where the school is located and which is known for producing Olympic and world champions.

The Anshan school was the second sports school accused of collective doping in China. In 2002, similar circumstances were found at the Liaoning Shenyang Athletics School, about 50 miles away.

China's top sports governing body has ordered an investigation into the scandal.

Performance enhancing drug use was rampant in Chinese sports in the 1990s, and a series on international scandals ensued during several competitions. But the Chinese government has gotten involved and they've tried to end the practice.

They began a crackdown against the use of banned substances to restore its battered reputation while preparing to host the 2008 Olympics.