The athletics world governing body IAAF said on Tuesday that an athlete has failed a doping test at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart in September.

However, IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss declined to name the athlete, saying that "it will be announced shortly."

Yet, no positive tests were reported at other major competitions in recent months, including August's world junior championships in Beijing, September's World Cup in Athens and October's world road running championships in Hungary, Weiss said.

Weiss said in Monaco that of the 2,347 tests conducted this year up to Oct. 23, both in and out of competition, 39 had been positive.

(Xinhua?News Agency?November 15, 2006)