CALGARY, Alberta -- The International Olympic Committee banned a Polish hockey player from the Winter Olympics Sunday and stripped Poland of its only hockey victory after the athlete failed his drug test.
Jaroslaw Morawiecki, a 24-year-old forward and one of the team's leading scorers, tested positive for steroids following Poland's 6-2 victory Thursday over France, the IOC said.
'It is considered by the IOC to be a way of cheating,' IOC spokeswoman Michele Verdier said.
The IOC took away the two points Poland earned in the victory and nullified the goals Polish players scored in the game. The loss of the points knocked Poland out of contention for a berth in the medal round of the Olympic tournament.
Under the bylaws of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Morawiecki will be banned from international play for 18 months.
Before the IOC action, the Poles had earned three points with a 1-2-1 record. The disqualification reduced their record to 0-2-1. Poland will be allowed to continue playing in the tournament. The French, who have not won a game, were not awarded any points but were permitted to keep the two goals they scored against Poland.
Polish coaches said Morawiecki was sabotaged but they could not say why or by whom. One coach speculated someone had slipped a substance containing testosterone into food or drink ingested by the player at a reception the night before the game against France.
'Apparently it was somebody who was not happy with the good performance of the Polish team,' head coach Leszek Lejczyk said Sunday through an interpreter. 'We just don't know why someone would do this. He right now is our best hockey player. He is very disciplined and there has never been any problem with him.
'We were playing the weakest team in our group,' he said after a 90-minute practice in which Morawiecki participated. 'Why would he do something like this? There is no other explanation. He is angry with himself that he did not take the proper precautions.'
Assistant coach Jerzy Mruk said the incident had a demoralizing effect on the team.
'You could see it in the first period in the game against Switzerland (a 4-1 loss),' said Mruk. 'The team took it hard. Whoever put it in, it was a cheap shot.'
The IOC said Morawiecki's urine showed an excessive level of the anabolic steroid testosterone. Steroids are dangerous muscle-building agents that can lead to liver cancer, kidney problems and sterility.
The IOC informed the Polish team of an initial positive test Saturday night before the Poles lost to Switzerland. Lejczyk removed Morawiecki from the roster to await the results of a second urinalysis. That sample also proved positive, the IOC said.
Leszek and Morawiecki met with the IOC medical commission late Saturday and the panel reported to the IOC executive committee Sunday morning. The executive committee voted unanimously to bar Morawiecki and take away the points earned by the Poles in the game against France.
Polish hockey officials told the IOC that team members were tested for steroids and other drugs before leaving Poland for Calgary, Verdier said.
Morawiecki, a national team member since 1984, had two goals and an assist through Poland's first three tournament games. He scored 34 goals in 49 games prior to the Olympics.
Before the Games, medical officials said about 450 athletes would be tested. The top four finishers and one athlete selected randomly are required to submit urine samples after individual competitions. In team events, officials select four members of each team at random after each contest.
Morawiecki was the first Olympic athlete to test positive for a banned substance since the Games began Feb. 13.
A Mongolian skier was the only one to test positive in the 1984 Winter Games at Sarajevo.
