AFP, BEIJINGChinese athletes found to have used performance-enhancing drugs are to receive criminal punishments and jail terms from next year, as China cracks down on doping ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, state media reported. China’s General Administration of Sport and top judicial authority are drafting rules that would apply criminal law to doping cases, Xinhua news agency said on Friday. The sport administration told reporters it could not confirm Xinhua’s report. Doping scandals have riddled China’s international sporting record in the past decade, with some athletes stripped of Olympic gold medals. All medals won by Chinese athletes at major international tournaments in the past two decades of the 20th century are tainted by doping, whistle-blower Xue Yinxian said.

Source: Taipei Times December 29, 2018 15:56 UTC