Medallist Blonska fails drug test
Olympic heptathlon silver medallist Liudmyla Blonska is facing a lifetime ban after failing a drugs test for the second time in five years.
If Blonska's B sample matches her A sample she will be expelled from the Beijing Games and stripped of silver.
Hyleas Fountain of the US finished third in the heptathlon while Russia's Tatiana Chernova was fourth.
The Ukrainian, 30, was handed a two-year ban in June 2003 when traces of stanozolol were found in her system.
Britain's Kelly Sotherton was fifth in a competition won by the Ukraine's Nataliia Dobrynska.
Sotherton has repeatedly denounced Blonska, most prominently after the Ukrainian beat her to the silver medal in the 2007 world championships in Osaka, and refused to shake her hand at the end of this year's event.
"I'm totally not surprised by the news," she said.
"I've been saying all along that she got caught doping when she was scoring 6300, so how can she not be doping and scoring 6800?
"I've not seen any of her results since early June and then she comes out here and is producing good performances, which was suspicious.
"The thing I hope is that the Russian and the American who will be upgraded get their medals in a proper presentation, otherwise they will have lost that moment forever."
The International Olympic Committee has opened a disciplinary hearing into Blonska's case and is expected to rule on it on Thursday.
Nick Davies, head of communications of the International Association of Athletics Federations, said: "She's already come back from a two-year ban.
"It is fair in life to give people a second chance but now (if it is proved) she has committed an offence again, it is a life ban and good riddance quite frankly.
"We do not need this type of athlete in our sport."
Blonska is also competing in the long jump and was third in qualifying ahead of Friday's final. Her place in that event is now in jeopardy.
Davies said he understood the test was believed to have uncovered an anabolic steroid.
It is the fifth positive test of the Games so far - after the Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno, North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su, Vietnamese gymnast Do Thi Ngan Thuong and Greek athlete Fani Halkia failed tests - but by far the most high profile.
BBC Radio 5 Live sports news correspondent Gordon Farquhar says the IOC is yet to confirm the drug Blonska has tested positive for but that she's unlikely to be reprieved by the B sample.
"In 99% or more of cases, the B sample confirms the A sample," said Farquhar. "Often an athlete who knows they've been caught with their hands in the till don't tend to ask for it to be tested because they know it's a waste of time."
Under by-laws adhered to by the Olympic associations of Great Britain, Norway and China, those found guilty of drug offences receive a lifetime ban from any subsequent Games.
Had Blonska tested positive in 2003 under current anti-doping rules, she would have received a four year ban and been denied the opportunity to compete in the following Olympics.
But at the time she tested positive, a more lenient regime was in place and she received a two-year ban from athletics - but no Olympic ban.
Medical experts have suggested Blonska may still be benefiting from the effects of stanozolol and, upon returning from her ban, she raised her personal best from 6,316 points to 6,832 points.
Britain's former Olympic champion Denise Lewis says she will be glad to see the back of Blonska.
"She's been caught once before and I'm all for giving people one more chance but it's obvious that if you're going to cheat you probably will always be a cheat, and I'm glad she'll be gone from the sport for good," Lewis told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth considering the girls give everything in the heptathlon. She shouldn't have been taking part in the heptathlon and good riddance.
"You would think she'd learn her lesson but obviously the temptation, whether it's the money, it attracts these people to cheating.
Lewis, who won heptathlon gold at Sydney 2000, added: "It's utterly disgusting and it has spoilt the heptathlon for me."
