Three Booted Out Of Olympics

Three athletes - a Taiwanese weightlifter, a Bulgarian triple and long jumper, and a swimmer from Kazakstan - were kicked out of the Sydney games after positive drug tests.

Taiwanese weightlifter Chen Po-pu tested positive for "prohibited drugs" on Tuesday, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported. Officials immediately seized his athlete identification papers and arranged for his flight back to Taipei.

Bulgarian triple and long jumper Iva Prandzheva, the triple jump silver medalist at the 1995 world championships, was barred because of a positive test for nandrolone. Considered a medal contender in Sydney, Prandzheva already had been banned for two years after the 1996 Games following a positive doping test.

Swimmer Yevgeniya Yermakova of Kazakstan was dumped from the Olympics after testing positive for a drug masking agent. Yermakova tested positive for Furosemide, a diuretic, at a meet in Monte Carlo in May.

Meanwhile, the head of the White House drug policy office praised China for dropping more than 20 athletes from its Olympic team over failed drug tests.

"It's a tremendous demonstration of their seriousness of purpose of acting against doping in their own teams," Barry McCaffrey told The Associated Press shortly after arriving in Sydney. "It's a terrific signal that they are committed."

McCaffrey, part of the 10-member official U.S. delegation, delivered the same message in a letter to China's sports minister. The delegation also included first daughter Chelsea Clinton.

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