CYCLING:Former Olympic Canadian cyclist Genevieve Jeanson has admitted she regularly took the banned performance-enhancing drug erythropoietin (EPO) during her career.

Jeanson (26), retired from cycling in early 2006, several months after testing positive for EPO during a US race. She denied taking EPO but later accepted a two-year suspension, saying in any case she would never race again.

"I did doping in my career . . . I did," she told Radio-Canada in an interview. "I hated everything. I hated myself for doing it. I hated myself not being able to get out of it. It was miserable," said Jeanson, who won a string of races over her career.

At the 2003 world championships in Hamilton, Ontario, Jeanson was found to have elevated levels of haemoglobin - a side-effect of EPO use. She was cleared two weeks later and later held a news conference to deny she had taken the drug.