Chinese swimmer fails drugs test

Ouyang won three individual silver medals at the 2006 Asian Games

Top Chinese swimmer Ouyang Kunpeng has been banned for life for drug use 42 days before the start of the Olympics.

The 25-year-old tested positive for the anabolic steroid clenbuterol.

Chinese swimmers were embroiled in a series of doping scandals in the 1990s but the country's authorities have pledged to stamp out drug abuse.

"Although we have done lots of work, this positive case still happened, which is a deep lesson for us," said the Chinese Swimming Association.

"We are going to take a clear stand on anti-doping work and firmly crack down on any violations."

Ouyang tested positive in an out of competition test on 1 May.

His coach, Feng Shangbao, has also been banned for life, a statement for the association published on the website of the official China Sports Daily newspaper said.

Ouyang won three individual silver medals at the 2006 Asian Games and three golds at the 2003 world university games.

He is the biggest-name Chinese swimmer to fail a dope test for several years, although there were several high-profile incidents in the late 1990s.

In the most notorious case, four Chinese swimmers failed pre-competition doping tests for the diuretic triamterene before the 1998 world championships in Perth.

Another female swimmer, Yuan Yuan, and her coach, Zhou Zhewen, were disqualified from the same championships after being caught with 13 vials of human growth hormone at Sydney airport.

The Beijing Olympics run from 8-24 August.