IOC sanctions athlete for doping at Youth Olympics

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) An unidentified athlete in taekwondo was sanctioned by the IOC on Wednesday after failing a doping test at the Youth Olympics in China.

The athlete tested positive for the banned diuretic furosemide in Nanjing in August, and has been retroactively disqualified, the International Olympic Committee said.

The IOC declined to identify the athlete or give the athlete's nationality because he or she was a minor at the time.

An IOC disciplinary panel, headed by Canadian member Dick Pound, asked the World Taekwondo Federation and the athlete's national Olympic committee to gather more information and look into any involvement by coaches, doctors or other medical staff.

The commission ''clearly indicated that the athlete should be provided with some additional support and information on the danger of doping,'' the IOC said.

The IOC conducted 596 doping tests in Nanjing. All samples were tested at the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited laboratory in Beijing.

The IOC reported two positive doping cases at the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010. Both cases involved wrestlers who tested positive for furosemide, which can be used as a weight-loss drug and also to mask the use of other banned substances.

The IOC stores doping samples from the Olympics and Youth Olympics for 10 years to allow for retesting when new methods become available.