Olympics: First high-profile drugs case hits Games

Thursday 21 August 2008

BEIJING - Ukraine's heptathlon silver medallist Liudmyla Blonska has failed a drugs test, the IOC confirmed Wednesday as the first high-profile doping failure hit the Beijing Olympics on the 13th day.

The 30-year-old had failed her A sample and the result of the B sample would be known Thursday.

Blonska faced a lifetime ban if both samples prove positive after serving a previous suspension for taking stanozolol, the anabolic steroid used by disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson.

"There has been an adverse finding in her A sample against her (Blonska)," and IOC source told AFP.

International Athletics Federation president Lamine Diack confirmed an investigation was underway.

"The procedure is running. The B-sample will no doubt be opened today and a decision taken tomorrow."

If confirmed, Blonska would be the fifth athlete to test positive, although the previous four only involved one podium finisher - North Korean shooter Kim Jong-Su, a minor medallist.

China continues to hold a commanding lead on the medal's table with 44 compared to 26 for the United States and 16 for Great Britain with 93 finals remaining before the Games close on Sunday.

Yin Jian lifted China further ahead winning the women's windsurfing, but the Games hosts had no luck in a preliminary round baseball match when they were crushed 1-17 by Cuba with the match called off in the seventh inning under the sport's mercy rule.

Lithuania ended China's hopes of an Olympic basketball medal when they despatched Yao Ming's side 94-68 in the quarter-finals.

Russian open water superstar Larisa Ilchenko entered the record books as the first women's 10km swimming marathon champion when the sport made its debut on Wednesday.

Ilchenko, unrivalled in open water swimming for the past four years, overtook Great Britain's Keri-Anne Payne in a sprint finish to win the gruelling event in just under two hours in the water.

It was the first of three golds for Russia, with Buvaysa Saytiev winning his third Olympic crown in the 74kg wrestling final and Anastasia Davydova teamed with Anastasia Ermakova to win the synchronised swimming.

South Africa's Natalie du Toit, who created a record as the first amputee to qualify for the Olympic Games, finished 16th in the 25-strong field women's swimming marathon field and pledged to be back in 2012 to do better.

"I don't even think about not having a leg and if I want to keep competing, I will have to continue to qualify with the able-bodied. For me it's not about the disability at all," said du Toit who lost her left leg in a motorcycle accident seven years ago.

Another sport making its Olympic debut, BMX racing, saw American professional Mike Day coming out tops from the men's qualifying rounds.