Sotomayor fails dope test for nandrolone

High jump world record holder Javier Sotomayor of Cuba failed a dope test for the banned steroid nandrolone at a meeting in Tenerife, Spain, in July, the International Association of Athletics Federations said on Sunday.

He is the third high-profile sportsman to be named in the last nine days after a positive test for nandrolone, following soccer players Jaap Stam of the Netherlands and Pep Guardiola of Spain.

IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai confirmed the Sotomayor finding at an IAAF general assembly in Monaco, according to press officer Giorgio Reineri.

"The general secretary has confirmed the positive test," said Reineri.

"But there is a difference between sample A and sample B of the test and there are bound to be problems," he added.

French media cited Spanish radio as saying that Sotomayor's nandrolone level was four times higher than the limit.

But Gyulai said that the nandrolone level was very different from one sample to the other.

Sotomayor won the Tenerife meeting with a jump at 2.29 metres.

The Cuban, whose world record stands at 2.45 metres, was banned for two years in 1999 after testing positive for cocaine at the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg.

His ban was later reduced because of "exceptional circumstances" to allow him to take part in the 2000 Olympics.

The 1992 Olympic champion in Barcelona and silver-medallist in Sydney last year, Sotomayor has always pleaded innocence over the cocaine case, claiming he had been the victim of a plot.

At 34, Sotomayor announced on Oct 12 he was ending his career.

If found guilty, the Cuban would face a life ban from athletics for a second offence.

Sotomayor is the fourth athlete to test positive for nandrolone this season after American hurdler Tony Dees, German Falk Balzer and Algerian 5,000 metres specialist Ali Saidi-Sief.

Other soccer players who have tested positive for nandrolone, apart from Stam and Guardiola, include Edgar Davids of the Netherlands and Fernando Couto of Portugal. The quartet all play in Serie A in Italy.