Swiss Runner Gasser Tests Positive for Steroids and Is Heavily Penalized

Switzerland’s Sandra Gasser, the third-place finisher in the women’s 1,500-meter race in the World Track and Field Championships, had her medal taken away Tuesday after she tested positive for steriods.

Gasser was barred from two years of competition, including the 1988 Olympic Games, by the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the world governing body for track and field.

Meanwhile, Swiss sports officials quickly rallied to her defense.

The IAAF also voided her victory in the women’s mile in the Mobil Grand Prix final at Brussels six days after winning the bronze medal in the recent World Championships. Thus, Gasser loses $20,000--$10,000 for finishing first in the Grand Prix women’s mile season standings and $10,000 for placing third in the overall women’s Grand Prix standings.

Gasser, 25, was the only athlete penalized for drug use among 192 tested at the World Championships at Rome, the IAAF said.

The IAAF Doping Subcommission said two urine samples taken from Gasser at the championships found traces of testosterone, a banned synthetic hormone used to build muscles.

But Georges Kennel, president of the Swiss Athletic Federation, said at a press conference that “too many questions remained” about the decision to cast doubt on Gasser’s assertion that she never took banned drugs.

Kennel and other officials hinted they suspected a laboratory error or mixup, or that someone deliberately added steroids to a bottle of mineral water from which Gasser drank at Rome.

Gasser was among the first athletes penalized under IAAF rules adopted last month, which provide automatic two-year bans and no appeal for first-time offenders found to have used steroids and most other performance-enhancing drugs. The old rules provided a lifetime ban but allowed for appeal and reinstatement after 1 1/2 years.