Sapporo: 6 athletes suspended for high hemo

The International Ski Federation announced Thursday that six athletes were given five-day suspensions at the Nordic World Ski Championships due to high hemoglobin levels.

SAPPORO, Japan — The International Ski Federation announced Thursday that six athletes were given five-day suspensions at the Nordic World Ski Championships due to high hemoglobin levels.
    The high hemoglobin levels were detected in pre-competition blood testing. The six athletes are suspended from competition for the first five days of the event but can compete in the Feb. 22-March 4 meet if they clear a second test, the federation said.
    The nordic World Championships were to begin later Thursday with the men's and women's cross-country sprint races at Sapporo Dome.
    The six athletes are Russians Voronin Konstantin and Dmitry Matveev and Italian Jochen Strobl in nordic combined, along with cross-country skiers Alen Abramovic of Croatia, Sergei Dolidovich of Belarus and Reto Burgermeister of Switzerland.
    The suspensions are not a punishment and were served to protect the health of the athletes, the federation said. No disciplinary measures will be taken based on these tests, it said.
    At the Torino Olympics last year, several cross-country skiers served suspensions for high hemoglobin levels.
    Even though they were later cleared to compete at the Olympics, the test results raised the possibility of blood doping with synthetic hemoglobin or transfusions.
    A total of 18 world titles are up for grabs in cross-country skiing, nordic combined and ski-jumping, with 495 athletes from 49 countries taking part.

— The Associated Press