/world sport
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia -- World record holder Jolanda Ceplak must serve her two-year ban after a positive doping test, the Slovenian Athletics Federation (AZS) confirmed on Thursday.
Ceplak tested positive for EPO at her home in Monte Carlo in June last year.
Ceplak, who broke the record for the indoor 800 meters with 1:55.82 in the European Championships in Vienna, tested positive for EPO in June 2007.
Last November the Slovenian Anti-Doping Commission upheld the ban, which was imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from July 25, 2007, but the case was then handed over to the AZS disciplinary commission.
"The decision was a very difficult one," commission president Slavko Crne told a news conference after a seven-and-a-half-hour hearing.
He said there was no evidence to suggest that there had been any procedural errors and "in our opinion Jolanda Ceplak is guilty of taking EPO".
"We wish for Slovenian athletics that the outcome was different, but we did not have evidence to prove it is so," Crne added.
Ceplak, 30, who won the bronze medal in the 800 meters at the Athens Olympics behind Kelly Holmes, tested positive at her home in Monte Carlo on June 18, 2007.
The athlete, who did not attend the hearing, is banned until July 2009.
Meanwhile, Frenchwoman Bouchra Ghezielle, the 1500m bronze medallist at the 2005 world championships, has also tested positive for EPO E-mail to a friend 
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