Indoor 800-Meter World Record Holder Suspended By IAAF After Testing Positive To EPO

MONTE CARLO, Monaco (AP) -- Jolanda Ceplak, the 800-meter indoor world record holder, has been suspended after testing positive for the blood-booster EPO.<br/><br/>The 30-year-old Slovenian was tested

Thursday, July 26th 2007, 10:25 am

By: News On 6

MONTE CARLO, Monaco (AP) -- Jolanda Ceplak, the 800-meter indoor world record holder, has been suspended after testing positive for the blood-booster EPO.

The 30-year-old Slovenian was tested out of competition in Monaco on June 18, but she denies doping.

"I deny any connection with taking doping, illegal substances," Ceplak told Slovenian state-run news agency STA. "I will try to prove my innocence by all possible means."

The B sample confirmed the result of the A sample, the IAAF said on its Web site Thursday.

The IAAF provisionally suspended Ceplak on Wednesday pending a disciplinary hearing by the Slovenian athletics federation.

Ceplak, who won bronze at the 2004 Athens Games, said she only found out she was suspended by checking the IAAF's Web site.

She had been training in Porec, Croatia, for Slovenia's national championships on Saturday.

If found guilty of doping, Ceplak faces a two-year ban and would miss the 2008 Beijing Olympics.