PARIS, France (AFP) — Seven athletes, including one finalist, tested positive for doping at August’s World Athletics Championships in Moscow, track and field’s world governing body, the IAAF, announced yesterday.

The IAAF said it took a total of 1,919 blood samples and carried out 538 urine tests during the competition and 132 during the pre-competition period.

Seven athletes failed urine tests, the IAAF confirmed, with just one having appeared in a final: Ukrainian Roman Avramenko, who finished fifth in the men’s javelin, but tested positive for steroid dehydrochloromethyltestosterone.

The six others were named as Afghan Massoud Azizi (men’s 100m; nandrolone metabolites), Ukrainian Elyzaveta Bryzgina (women’s 200m; drostanolone), Kazakhstan’s Ayman Kozhakhmetova (women’s 20km walk; exogenous testosterone + EPO), Iran’s Ebrahim Rahimian (men’s 20km walk; EPO), Turkmenistan’s Yelena Ryabova (women’s 200m; dehydrochloromethyltestosterone); and Guatemalan Jeremias Saloj (men’s marathon; EPO).

The seven athletes have either already been sanctioned or provisionally suspended, the IAAF said.

“I am delighted that with the assistance of our partners the IAAF has been able to carry out such a comprehensive anti-doping testing programme in Moscow,” said IAAF president Lamine Diack.

“The specialised analyses and the blood samples taken in connection with the Athlete Biological Passport emphasise the IAAF’s firm commitment and resolve to use the most sophisticated methods at our disposal in the fight against cheating in sport.”