BEIJING, Sept 11: South African Olympian Natalie du Toit grabbed her third gold of the Paralympics on Thursday on a day tarnished by more doping scandals and a ruling that an athlete is not disabled enough to compete.

As China pulled clear at the top of the medals table, du Toit smashed her own world record in the women’s 200 metres individual medley, leaving her competitors trailing as she bids for a five-gold clean sweep. But away from the action, two powerlifters were slapped with two-year bans after traces of steroids were found in their bodies, organisers said.

Facourou Sissoko, 46, a male competitor from Mali, and Ukranian female powerlifter Liudmyla Osmanova, 22, both failed pre-competition tests, the International Paralympic Committee said.

The positive results bring the number of powerlifters expelled to three.

Pakistani Naveed Ahmed Butt, 37, tested positive for a steroid on Sept 4, it was announced on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, German wheelchair basketball player Ahmet Coskun was kicked out of the Paralympics for taking a banned drug that can conceal performance-enhancing substances, although he insisted he took it only as a hair loss treatment.

A total of 461 tests had been carried out, both in and out of competition, by the end of Tuesday.

Popovich, the American team captain, won her fourth Beijing Paralympic gold, taking the 400-meter freestyle. She also won gold in the 100 backstroke, 200 individual medley and 100 freestyle, and will try for two more gold medals this weekend.

Popovich won seven gold in Athens, but will be limited to six this time after a relay was cut from the program. She also won three more gold medals in the Sydney games eight years ago.

“The Paralympics are for physically disabled people from all around the world,’’ Popovich said. “Everyone is capable of doing something, whichever walk of life they come from.’’

Thirteen medal events were held in swimming, with 11 in table tennis, 10 in track and field. Other medals events included: shooting (2), equestrian (3), powerlifting (2) and rowing (4).

Britain won two of the four gold medals in rowing with Helene Raynsford taking women’s singles sculls and Tom Aggar winning the men’s single sculls.

The ruling comes after Australian athlete Jessica Gallagher was last week told she was not blind enough to compete.

The controversies have taken some of the gloss of what has otherwise been a celebration of disabled sports, led by the performances of du Toit, fellow South African “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius and the dominant Chinese.

Du Toit did her best to force the focus back on the pool Thursday evening, swimming 2 mins 27.83secs, and finishing almost 10 seconds clear of Canada’s Stephanie Dixon.

The 24-year-old has already taken gold in the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle events in her class.

Du Toit, who finished 16th in the 10 kilometre marathon swim in the Olympics last month, is aiming for two more wins to match her gold tally at the 2004 Athens Paralympics.

She is one of only two Paralympians who also competed at the Beijing Olympics, along with Polish teenager Natalia Partyka, who won table tennis gold in her class on Wednesday.

Du Toit won five golds and a silver in Athens. She lost her left leg in a road accident in 2001, after narrowly missing qualification for the Sydney Olympics a year earlier.

China stood on 33 golds on Wednesday evening, eight clear of Britain. But the home nation had 96 medals in total, to Britain’s 52.

More than 4,000 competitors from nearly 150 countries and regions are battling for 472 gold medals in 20 sports at the eye-catching venues used for the Olympics such as the “Bird’s Nest” and the Water Cube.—AFP