A senior Chinese swimming official said in Shaoxing, east China on Sunday that Chinese swimmers were tested negative in all doping tests in 2007, and vowed more stringent anti-doping efforts in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.

A total of 1,105 tests, about 11.39 percent more than those in 2006, were conducted on 481 swimmers by the Chinese anti-doping authorities last year, said Li Hua, director of the Chinese Swimming Administrative Center, at the Chinese Swimming Anti-Doping Conference.

The tests included 697 random tests, 340 in-competition tests, 60 blood tests and eight open water tests. The number of swimmers who took the tests made up 34.26 percent of all registered swimmers in China, Li said.

In addition, 32 Chinese swimming athletes took dope tests performed by the international governing swimming body FINA and the World Anti-Doping Agency, totaling 52 times.

Li called on all swimmers and their coaches to redouble efforts in anti-doping work in the leading up to the Beijing Games, which kicks off on Aug. 8 this year.

He said the Chinese swimming squad shall present a clean competition in front of a home crowd.

Wu Peng, one of the leading male swimmers in China, also made a solemn pledge at the anti-doping conference.

"All swimmers must be clean and honest at the Beijing games. Only through hard training and confidence can we achieve our best in the Beijing pool," he said.

The image of Chinese sports was tainted in the 1990s following several high-profile positive incidents, notably in the pool.

Seven Chinese swimmers tested positive for steroids at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima. Four years later, another four swimmers failed doping tests during the world championships in Perth, Australia.

To redeem its reputation, China launched a vigorous anti-doping campaign with more intensive drug testing and harsher penalties for any doping cheats.

One of its best women swimmers, Wu Yanyan was banned for four years after she tested positive for an anabolic steroid at a national championships before the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Liu Peng, head of the General Administration of Sport of China, warned that Chinese sports team would suffer a catastrophic blow if a single Chinese athlete was test positive at the Beijing Olympics.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2008)