Chinese swimmers kept a clean record in 2004 with no positive results from 794 doping tests, the Chinese Swimming Association (CSA) announced on Thursday.

 

According to Li Hua, vice president of the CSA, 352 Chinese swimmers from 25 teams took the tests, including 724 tests done by the CSA and the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and 70 by the Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA), the sport's world governing body, and the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA).

 

Since the late 1990s, China has conducted a vigorous anti-doping campaign with more intensive testing and harsher penalties for doping cheats. Violators may be banned from their sport for life.

 

China became a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code in 2003. The China Doping Control Center in Beijing has maintained IOC accreditation for 15 consecutive years and is ranked as a Class A laboratory.

 

The nation's domestic anti-doping regulation went into effect in March 2004, making China one of the few countries waging the war on drug cheats through the law.

 

The Spring National Swimming Championships, which also serve as the trial for July's World Swimming Championships in Montreal, Canada, and selection for the quadrennial National Games in October, open on Friday.?

 

Olympic champion Luo Xuejuan and other top swimmers will participate in the seven-day competition.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2005)