CNN has the story:
Ukrainian Lyudmila Blonska has been stripped of her Olympic heptathlon silver medal, the highest-profile athlete kicked out of the Beijing Games for doping. The International Olympic Committee said Blonska tested positive for methyltestosterone after finishing behind compatriot Nataliia Dobrynska.
Blonska, who blamed her coach and husband for the positive test, was also dropped from Friday's long jump final after finishing third in qualifying earlier in the week. The IOC asked the International Association of Athletics Federations to adjust the heptathlon results and consider further sanctions against Blonska. The Ukrainian Olympic committee was also ordered to return Blonska's silver medal "as soon as possible."
The 30-year-old Blonska faces a lifetime ban from the IAAF for a second doping offense. She was suspended from 2003-05 for use of the steroid stanozolol.
The IOC said Blonska expressed "shock" at the results and could not understand how the banned substance wound up in her system. She apologized at a disciplinary hearing and said she felt "ashamed". However, she pointed the blame at her husband, who has served as her coach for five years.
Blonska is the biggest name among the five athletes who have tested positive so far at the games, and second to be stripped of a medal. Previously disqualified were Greek hurdler Fani Halkia, North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su, Spanish cyclist Isabel Moreno, and Vietnamese gymnast Thi Ngan Thuong Do. Kim was stripped of her silver and bronze medals.
Rico says it'll turn out ugly if her husband, with whom she's been 'currently conflictual', was doping her without her knowledge...
CNN has the story:
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