WORLD athletics championships 1500m bronze medallist Bouchra Ghezielle has been handed a 3½-year suspension by the French athletics federation, for failing a dope test for banned blood-booster EPO.The Moroccan-born runner, 29, received a heavier punishment than French cross-country champion Khalid Zoubaa, who was suspended for three years last year for testing positive for EPO.
The disciplinary commission in both cases invoked the French law which allows punishment for a period of between two and six years in the case of a serious first doping offence.
Ghezielle, who has had no success of note since her success at the 2005 world championships in Helsinki, Finland, can appeal against the ban.
Agence France-Presse
