BEIJING: Ukraine's Olympic heptathlon silver medallist Lyudmila Blonska has tested positive for steroids and could be kicked out of the Games when IOC chiefs meet in Beijing on Thursday.
If found guilty she could also face a lifetime ban as a second-time offender. Blonska had returned to competition in 2005 after serving a two-year doping ban.
"There is a procedure going through on Lyudmila Blonska," an IOC official told Reuters. "The Disciplinary Commission and the Executive Board meet tomorrow."
Blonska's A sample tested positive for anabolic steroid methyltestosterone and her second sample would be tested later on Wednesday, said the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
"This athlete has tested positive. Her B sample will be opened later today and there will be a hearing tomorrow," IAAF President Lamine Diack told reporters.
The drugs test was conducted at 2 a.m. the morning after her competition. The test was a routine procedure for all top five finishers in Beijing.
"We live in a society where people cheat, doping is never in the past. We can't lower our guard," Diack said.
Under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, Blonska risks a lifetime ban if she is found to have violated anti-doping rules for a second time.
Blonska won silver on Saturday behind compatriot Nataliia Dobrynska. American Hyleas Fountain took bronze. Tatiana Chernova of Russia finished fourth.
COLD SHOULDER
Following her second-place finish in Beijing, Blonska brushed off suggestions that athletes who have failed drug tests should be banned from the Olympics.
"That is all in the past... I made a mistake, but I returned," Blonska said on Saturday. "Those who say I should be banned should look in the mirror."
Blonska got the cold shoulder from many of her fellow athletes when she returned to the big stage at last year's world athletics championships in Osaka.
British rival Kelly Sotherton said at the time Blonska was still a cheat in her eyes.
"It's tough, she blatantly did it and she knew she did it," Sotherton said. "That's why we don't support her."
Four athletes have been caught doping and been dismissed from the Olympics.
A Spanish cyclist, a North Korean shooter, a Vietnamese gymnast and a Greek hurdler have failed doping tests with the IOC enforcing the most sophisticated and far-reaching testing programme ever introduced during an Olympic Games.
By Karolos Grohmann Reuters
Published: August 20, 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/08/20/sports/OUKSP-UK-OLYMPICS-DOPING-BLONSKA.php
