Spanish athlete Marta Dominguez suspended over doping charges

AFP - Spain's athletics federation suspended world steeplechase champion Marta Dominguez from her position as its vice president Friday, citing police doping charges.

Dominguez, winner of the 5,000 metres at the 2001 and 2003 world championships in addition to the 2009 steeplechase, had been charged with trafficking and distributing doping products, the federation said.

Given that this "seriously damages the image of Spanish athletics, I have decided as a precaution to suspend your appointment as vice president of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation," RFEA president Jose Maria Odriozola Lino told Dominguez in a letter distributed to media.

"I hope these charges will be clarified soon and we will be able to know the extent of your implication as soon as possible."

Spanish police detained 14 people in a major anti-doping operation on Thursday, of whom 12 were still in detention Friday, according to the police and the Interior Ministry.

Dominguez was provisionally released from the police station in her northern Spanish home town of Palencia, the federation said.