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Heptathlete set to lose silver after positive test for steroids
Kiran Randhawa and Shekhar Bhatia in Beijing20 Aug 2008
The Beijing Olympics faced its first top-level drugs scandal today as a silver medallist who beat Briton Kelly Sotherton in the heptathlon tested positive for anabolic steroids.
Lyudmila Blonska, who has previously served a two-year ban for taking performance-enhancing drugs, faces being stripped of her medal after traces of a banned substance were found in her system.
Sotherton, who has repeatedly questioned Blonska's right to compete, finished fifth in the heptathlon last week. After the Ukrainian athlete's silver medal win, the 31-year-old Briton called for a global policy preventing drug cheats from returning to compete in the Olympics.
At the time, she said: "I'm not happy she competed again.
"We have rules in our country that we abide by. We don't bring anybody who cheated previously, so why should any other country? It needs to change.
"I'm pleased her team-mate [Nataliya Dobrynska] beat her to the gold. That makes it bittersweet. I'd have been really upset if she'd won gold. The penalty you should pay if you take drugs is not to compete at the Olympics."
The International Olympic Committee has opened a disciplinary procedure into Blonska's case. They are expected to rule on the case tomorrow after results of a second sample are known. It is expected she will receive a lifetime ban.
Although Blonska's performance here did not affect Sotherton's medal prospects, as it did at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, last year when they finished second and third respectively, she was outraged that the Ukrainian was allowed to compete.
Blonska, 30, received a two-year ban after testing positive for the steroid stanozolol in June 2003.
Upon being told about Sotherton's remarks, Blonska responded: "Now everything is in the past. I'm not ashamed and those who think I should not be here should look at themselves. It was a mistake in my life and I have managed to prove that I can compete again and I am competing."
The IOC refused to officially confirm the positive finding, saying it "does not comment, or provide information, on any doping cases until a decision is made by either the disciplinary commission or executive board".
It is the fifth positive test of the Games. North Korean shooter Kim Jong-su was stripped of his men's 50m air pistol silver and his 10m air pistol bronze medals after testing positive for a banned substance.
Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno, Vietnamese gymnast Do Thi Ngan Thuong and Greek athlete Fani Halkia also failed doping test.
Under usual IOC procedure, Blonska will be stripped of her silver medal and her accreditation for the Games will be withdrawn. It would mean the USA's Hyleas Fountain moving up to silver, Russia's Tatiana Chernova moving up to bronze, and Sotherton's official finishing position being fourth.
Under current anti-doping rules, Blonska would have received a fouryear ban from 2003 and 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 she may still be benefiting from the effects of stanozolol. On return from her ban, she raised her personal best from 6,316 points to 6,832 points.
