Ayhan faces a lifetime suspension

ANKARA, Turkey -- Former European 1,500-meter champion Sureyya Ayhan has tested positive for doping and faces a lifetime ban.

Turk Ayhan tested positive in the United States in September during training for next year's Beijing Olympics, according to a report Saturday by Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency that did not identify the banned substance.

Ayhan has denied doping, and her husband and coach, Yucel Kop, questioned the result, but a second test confirmed the initial finding.

Ayhan, 29, was suspended for two years for breaking drug-testing rules in 2004 before the Athens Olympics.

"Sureyya Ayhan's failure of the doping test is neither good for herself nor for Turkey," said State Minister Murat Basesgioglu.

Ayhan sent a written statement to Anatolia from America, confirming that her tests had come back positive, but claiming that she had been the victim of foul play by those who did not want her to run in the Beijing Games.

"No athlete in her right mind would take banned substances just a year away from competing," Ayhan said.

"These (banned) substances have been mixed into my drinks or food outside my control at a moment of absent-mindedness on my part," she added.

Ayhan was a national hero after emerging from relative obscurity to win the 1500m European title in Munich in 2002. She won the silver medal in the World Championships the following year.

Ayhan missed the 2004 Athens Olympics, citing a hamstring injury, but Turkish media reported at the time that the real reason for her pull-out was a doping scandal in which she allegedly tried to cheat a doping test by submitting someone else's urine sample.

Ayhan rejected charges of using banned substances, but admitted to a serious dispute with doping inspectors over how the sample should be taken.

She was eventually given a two-year penalty for violating testing rules and has not run another race since her ban ended late last year. E-mail to a friend