Three British athletes - European sprint champion Jason Livingston and two weightlifters - were kicked out of the Olympics in the first drug case of the Barcelona Games.
Livingston, nicknamed "Baby Ben" after his teen-age idol Ben Johnson, was suspended by the British Olympic Association for testing positive for anabolic steroids on July 15 after a random test in Britain, a spokeswoman said today.He had been scheduled to compete in the 100 meters and 400-meter relay.
The weightlifters, Andrew Davies and Andrew Saxton, were suspended for testing positive for a stimulant and anabolic agents, BOA spokeswoman Caroline Searle said.
Davies and Saxton also tested positive in random tests last month in Britain, Searle said. Livingston returned to Britain on Tuesday and the weightlifters left the Games on Wednesday, Searle added.
None had competed in the 1992 Olympics, and IOC spokeswoman Michele Verdier said no athlete has tested positive for drug use during the Games.
"Let me make it absolutely clear, there will be no hiding place for British sportsmen or women who resort to drugs in sport," Britain's Sports Minister Robert Key said. "It is quite simply cheating."
Livingston tested positive for Methandianone, while Davies and Saxton tested positive for Clenbuterol, a drug used to treat asthma. It is banned in Britain but available in Germany, Searle said.
The BOA said Livingston still can appeal the suspension, but the weightlifters have admitted using a banned substance. However, they are appealing the lifetime ban that goes with the suspension.
"The incidents have caused human tragedy, shock and emotional distress for the competitors themselves and officials around them and their fellow competitors," said Dick Palmer, head of the British delegation.
Livingston is the European indoor 60-meter champion; Davies competes in the 242-pound class and Saxton, a gold medalist in the 1990 Commonwealth Games, lifts in the 220-pound class. Livingston's best time in the 100 this year is 10.09 seconds, fifth fastest among those at the Games.
"The BOA have taken the decision they felt had to be taken. They were not tested during the Games," Verdier said. "It's not a matter for the IOC."
On Saturday, shotputter Kalman Konya was dropped from the German team for failing to show up for a drug test.
Other British weightlifters have been suspended before. Ricky Chaplin and Gareth Hives of Wales were banned from the sport for life for positive drug tests during the 1990 Commonwealth Games.
The suspensions of the three British athletes today is the first drug case since the 1992 Games opened and come four years after the broadest - and by far the most notorious - doping scandal in Olympic history.
At the 1988 Games in Seoul, 10 athletes tested positive for drugs, including Johnson, the Canadian sprinter who set a world record of 9.79 seconds in the 100 meters. Five of those athletes were weightlifters, including two gold medalists from Bulgaria.
Johnson tested positive for Stanozalol, an anabolic steroid used to help athletes recover from training injuries and promote muscle growth.
Johnson was stripped of the gold medal and world record, and banned from track for two years. He has served that suspension, passed repeated drug tests since his reinstatement and is in Barcelona as a member of the Canadian team. He opens competition in the 100-meter heats Friday.
In 1988, Linford Christie, a British sprinter, was found to have traces of steroids in his urine but was not suspended. The BOA and the International Olympic Commitee announced at that time that Christie apparently had ingested the steroids unknowingly from herbal tea he drank during pre-Olympic training.