China's top swimmer, Ouyang Kunpeng, has been banned from competition for life after testing positive for steroids, a top Chinese swimming official said on Friday with only 43 days to go before the Beijing Olympics.

Ouyang, who won three silver medals in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, failed an out-of-competition test which was conducted on May 1, said Li Hua, director of the Chinese Swimming Administration Center, the country's swimming governing body.

Ouyang Kunpeng

The 25-year-old is China's best male backstroke swimmer. His previous best result was a fourth place in the 50m backstroke at the World Short Course Championships in 2006. His coach Feng Shangbao has also been disqualified from coaching for life, Li said.

China is determined to send a clean team to the Beijing Olympic Games and the determination has been reflected by banning top backstroker Ouyang Kunpeng, said Yuan Hong, head of the Chinese Olympic Committee Anti-Doping Commission.

The Chinese Swimming Association announced the ban in early June after a hearing was held.

The country's sport governing body State General Administration of Sport put in force the regulation saying that national team athletes will be banned for life if found positive in doping test and his or her coach will also face life-time ban.

"Ouyang's ban proves nothing but our determination to weed out dope cheats among Chinese athletes. No matter how excellent an athletes is, he or she will be severely punished once tested positive," said Yuan who is on a nationwide inspection to tighten management of performance-enhancing drug suppliers and manufacturers ahead of the Olympics.

The inspection, conducted by eight government departments, would specially focus on Olympic host cities and regions with a concentrated chemical industry.

"We will continue our zero-tolerance policy in the fight against doping," she said. "We hope to send a clean team to the Olympic Games."

China found 15 positive cases in 2007 after conducting 10238 tests, 70 percent of them out-of-competition. When China first started doping tests, the number was merely 165.