China bans speed skater for two years over doping
Shi Xiaoxuan skates in the women's 500m speed skating event at the first winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck January 14, 2012.
China's sport authorities have banned a speed skater for two years for failing a drugs test, saying it was "a wake-up call" for China's athletes, with the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea just a month away.
Shi Xiaoxuan has been struck off the national team for the Olympics after she tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol on December 14, the China Skating Association said in a statement posted on the website of China's General Administration of Sports on January 6.
Clenbuterol is a performance-enhancing substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
"There are loopholes in our education campaign against doping and we will take more measures and responsibility," the skating association said in the statement, suggesting that Shi accidentally ingested the substance having "dined out without permission".
China will host the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
