Beijing - Olympic heptathlon silver medallist Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine has failed a doping test at the Beijing Games, the president of the world governing athletics body IAAF, Lamine Diack, confirmed on Wednesday. If the b-sample examination confirms the original finding Blonska faces a life-ban as as a second-time offender. She will also be stripped of her medal and kicked out of the Olympics. Blonska on Tuesday qualified for Thursday's long jump final.
"I have just been informed that there has been a positive case. This athlete has tested positive," Diack said at a news conference when asked about the heptathlon silver medallist.
It was not known immediately for which substance the 30-year-old Ukrainian tested positive.
Blonska served a first doping ban 2003-2005 for using the steroid stanozolol and returned to win a world championship silver in 2007.
She finished second at the Olympic heptathlon on Friday and Saturday behind compatriot Natalya Dobrynska and would be stripped of the medal if she has committed an offence.
American champion Hyleas Fountain was third in the heptathlon and Tatiana Chernova of Russia fourth.
The International Olympic Committee said its disciplinary committee will meet on Thursday to discuss the case and then make a recommendation to the executive board for a final ruling.
It is the fifth positive test of the Beijing Games, after the Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno, North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su, Vietnamese gymnast Do Thi Ngan Thuong and the 2004 Olympic 400m hurdles champion Fani Halkia of Greece.
Kim lost his 50-metre air pistol silver and a 10-metre air pistol bronze.
Under new IOC rules athletes who test positive at the Olympics are automatically banned from the next Games.
The IOC is conducting 4,500 tests in the Beijing Olympics period July 27-August 24. IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said on Wednesday that 4,130 tests have been carried out, 3,290 urine tests and 840 are blood tests.
The 2004 Olympics saw 3,500 tests and 26 positive tests, among the three athletics gold medallists.
Diack reiterated that the IAAF was looking into whether future doping offenders will automatically be banned from the next world championships. A decision could be made at an IAAF Council meeting in November.
"It may well be that we will take measures that athletes who test positive are banned from the next world championships," Diack said.
