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ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON, SEPT 16: The governing body of athletics asked the Cuban and Jamaican Federations today to provisionally suspend Javier Sotomayor and Merlene Ottey for positive drug tests.
Sotomayor, the Cuban world record-holder in the highjump, tested positive for cocaine at the Pan American Games in Canada. Ottey, the Jamaican sprint star, tested positive for the steroid nandrolone at meet in July.
Both athletes have denied taking drugs.
The International Amateur Athletic Federation said today the athletes must be suspended by their National federations pending a hearing. The Cubans have not done so. The IAAF received a 200-page document yesterday from the Cuban federation defending Sotomayor. IAAF spokesman Giorgio Reinerii said the document was a summary of Cuban leader Fidel Castro's pronouncements on the case.
In Kingston, the Jamaican Federation said it would hold a hearing on Ottey's case by the end of November.
If the National federations refuse to ban the athletes, the IAAF can impose its ownsuspension, Reinerii said.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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