Paris Marathon organisers step up security measures

Bill risks missing deadline

PARIS, March 31, (Agencies): Faced with the threat of terrorism, security has been “considerably strengthened” ahead of the Paris Marathon on Sunday, organisers said.

“In recent weeks we have had regular meetings with the Prefecture of Police in Paris, and we can say that security has been considerably strengthened,” said marathon director Edouard Cassignol on Thursday.

“Safety is a major concern today, and security is the responsibility of state authorities. It is up to the Prefecture of Police to manage security for the marathon”.

On Sunday nearly 50,000 people are expected to take part in the marathon that crosses Paris from east to west, from the Bois de Vincennes to the Bois de Boulogne.

Thousands of spectators will also be lining the roads in the French capital.

Race organisers declined to elaborate on the arrangements put in place for security reasons.

“We can’t say much more, we have a who both raced at the 2012 Olympics, have been banned for doping.

Nemec, formerly known as Lisa Stublic, grew up in Connecticut and raced for Columbia University, but competes for Croatia, where she has set numerous national records. She finished 52nd in the marathon at the 2012 Olympics.

The IAAF says Nemec has been banned for four years following an outof-competition drug test taken in October.

Drabenia picked up a two-year ban following a failed test at a competition in Belarus last year. She has raced at various major international competitions and was 24th in the women’s 20-kilometer walk at the 2012 London Olympics and 16th at the world championships a year later.

Turkey’s athletics federation on Thursday said it had banned Ethiopianborn Turkish long distance runner Elvan Abeylegesse for two years for doping, state media reported.

The disciplinary board of the Turkish Athletics Federation (TAF) agreed the ban for Abeylegesse for taking a banned substance at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, the state-run Anatolia news agen-

Abeylegesse

cy reported.

The athlete had already been suspended after results from the 2005 and 2007 World Championships showed the presence of a banned substance.

She had won silver medals in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and also won silver at the 2007 Osaka World Championships.

Abeylegesse has always rejected taking a banned substance and had sued the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for making technical errors in the testing.

Swimming authorities need to increase the number of doping tests to preserve the sport’s credibility and stop fans turning away according to Britain’s triple world champion and double world record holder Adam Peaty.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is investigating allegations of Russian state doping and an alleged cover up of positive tests in China that have rocked the sport.

China, who issued warning penalties to two swimmers on Monday who failed tests, and Russia have denied cover up claims.

Peaty, the 50 and 100 metre breaststroke world record holder who won three golds at last year’s world championships in Russia, said testing needed to be weekly to prove the sport was clean.

“I know testing week-on-week is expensive, but what is more expensive is swimmers coming out as cheats and then people not watching,” he was quoted as saying by British media. “I’ve just been tested three times in the past few weeks and that’s how it should be.

“I hope they catch the cheats before the Olympics because it’s going to ruin the sport otherwise. Olympic champions shouldn’t be someone who has cheated to get there.”

The 21-year-old, preparing for Olympic trials next month, said he could become a victim of association if he was successful at the Aug 5-21 Rio de Janeiro Games.

“It’s ruining the reputation of all sports”, he said. “If it happens any more people are going to be looking on TV and saying, ‘he’s a cheat’.