Swimming: Jaben given one-year suspension for steroids

Jaben made aliya from the US after competing at the 2005 Maccabiah games.

By ALLON SINAI
max jaben 88 (photo credit: )
max jaben 88
(photo credit: )
Max Jaben was handed a one-year suspension by an Israeli Swimming Association hearing committee on Saturday for testing positive for the anabolic steroid boldenone in April. The 23-year-old swimmer, will, however, be able to make his return as early as June 5, 2009, as the committee decided that his 12-month suspension will begin from the date he was initially dropped from the Israeli Olympic swimming team. Jaben's claims that his urine samples weren't tested properly were rejected by the committee, but he was only handed a relatively short suspension after the committee decided to take into consideration the fact that the swimmer was denied a chance to compete at the Beijing Olympics and that this was his first offense. Jaben made aliya from the US after competing at the 2005 Maccabiah games. He had been due to compete at August's Beijing Games after finishing in 11th position in the 200 meters freestyle at last year's European Championships but was forced to sit the competition out and watch Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or take his place.