Doping probe opened against Olympic medallist

Austria\'s anti-doping authority says it has launched proceedings against former Olympic silver medalist Stephanie Graf, six years after the end of her career.



The probe by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) comes amid allegations that Graf, who was the runner-up in the 800 metres at the 2000 Sydney Games, had blood taken at a controversial Vienna lab at least once for doping purposes.



Graf has admitted that she had blood taken at the Humanplasma lab in 2003 but denies it was ever re-injected, which would have been illegal under international anti-doping rules.



Humanplasma revealed in March that its facility had been used by several coaches to help about 30 athletes with blood doping from 2003 to 2006.



Earlier this year, the secretary general of the Austrian Athletics Federation, Helmut Baudis, had called on NADA to investigate Graf.



The 37-year-old Graf, also won the 800 at the European indoor championships in 2000 and pocketed three more silver medals at world championships before ending her career shortly before the 2004 Athens Games.