BEIJING (AFP) — South African Olympian Natalie du Toit was set Thursday to go for her third gold of the Paralympics on yet another day tarnished by drug scandals with two more athletes kicked out for doping.
As China pulled clear at the top of the medals table, two powerlifters were slapped with two-year bans after traces of steroids were found in their bodies, organisers said.
Facourou Sissoko, 46, a male competitor from Mali, and Ukranian female powerlifter Liudmyla Osmanova, 22, both failed pre-competition tests, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said.
The positive results bring the number of powerlifters expelled to three. Pakistani Naveed Ahmed Butt, 37, tested positive for a steroid on September 4, it was announced on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, German wheelchair basketballer Ahmet Coskun was kicked out of the Paralympics for taking a banned drug that can conceal performance-enhancing substances, although he insisted he took it only as a hair loss treatment.
A total of 461 tests had been carried out, both in and out of competition, by the end of Tuesday.
The drug tests have taken some of the gloss of what has otherwise been a celebration of disabled sports, led by the performances of du Toit, fellow South African "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius and the dominant Chinese.
Du Toit, who has already taken gold in the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle events in her class, was due to swim in the 200m individual medley on Thursday evening.
The 24-year-old, who finished 16th in the 10 kilometre marathon swim in the Olympics last month, is aiming for three more wins to match her gold tally at the Athens Paralympics.
Du Toit is one of only two Paralympians who also competed at the Beijing Olympics, along with Polish teenager Natalia Partyka, who won table tennis gold in her class on Wednesday.
Speaking after her 100m freestyle win, du Toit said: "I'm going to have two days off so I'll have a massage and then come back and swim the 50m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley. There's going to be some great races."
Du Toit won five golds and a silver at the Athens Paralympics. She lost her left leg in a road accident in 2001, after narrowly missing qualification for the Sydney Olympics a year earlier.
China stood on 28 golds early Wednesday evening, three clear of Britain. But the home nation had 86 medals in total, to Britain's 47.
More than 4,000 competitors from nearly 150 countries and regions are battling for 472 gold medals in 20 sports at the eye-catching venues used for the Olympics such as the "Bird's Nest" and the Water Cube.
The sports at the Paralympics, which end on September 17, include athletics, swimming, powerlifting, wheelchair fencing and five-a-side and seven-a-side football, as well as the lesser-known goalball and boccia.
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