MADRID: Spain's athletics federation Friday suspended world steeplechase champion Marta Dominguez from her position as its vice president, citing a doping scandal. Dominguez, who won the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2009 world championships as well as the silver medal in the 5,000m at the 2001 and 2003 events, is suspected of trafficking doping products, the federation said. Given that this “seriously damages the image of Spanish athletics, I have decided as a precaution to suspend your appointment as vice president of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation,” RFEA President Jose Maria Odriozola Lino told Dominguez in a letter distributed to media. “I hope these charges will be clarified soon and we will be able to know the extent of your implication as soon as possible.” Judicial sources said Dominguez is specifically suspected of a “crime against public health in relation to doping substances.” They said she would appear before a judge “soon”, possibly by video link from her home in the northern Spanish town of Palencia. She was one of 14 people detained in a major anti-doping operation Thursday, athletes, coaches and medical staff. Of these, 12 remained in custody Friday, police and the interior ministry said. The ministry said police carried out 15 raids of homes in which they also seized anabolic steroids, bags of blood and “laboratory utensils for blood transfusion.” Dominguez was provisionally released from custody at the police station in Palencia late Thursday.
