Former Olympic champion Denise Lewis claims the Beijing heptathlon has been "spoilt" by Lyudmila Blonska's positive drugs test.

The Ukrainian athlete won silver in the women's heptathlon at the weekend but is facing disciplinary action after failing a doping test.

It is understood Blonska, who has already previously served a two-year ban for drugs, tested positive for an anabolic steroid.

Lewis, who won gold at the Sydney Games of 2000 and expressed her "complete and utter joy" at Blonska's downfall, said: "She's been caught once before.

"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.

"It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth considering the girls give everything in the heptathlon. It's utterly disgusting and it's spoilt the heptathlon for me."

The case is expected to come before the International Olympic Committee's disciplinary commission and executive board, who meet tomorrow but refused to confirm the positive finding.

After Blonska's silver medal, Britain's Kelly Sotherton, who finished fifth, called for a worldwide policy to prevent drug cheats from returning to compete in the Olympics.

In a relatively quiet Games for drugs offenses, only four positive tests during the Games have so far been recorded by the IOC.

Meanwhile, at the Bird's Nest stadium today, Britain's Michael Rimmer survived a real scare in the first round of the 800 metres heats.

The Liverpool athlete, 23, was struggling as he was passed by Poland's Pawel Czapiewski and South Africa's Mbulaeni Mulaudzi at the start of the home straight.

But Rimmer kept battling to move wide and muscle his way back into the contest and make tomorrow's semi-final in 1min 47.61sec.