Heptathlete’s positive test no surprise

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Famous first words:

The international track federation said Wednesday that heptathlon silver medalist Lyudmila Blonska’s ‘A’ sample had come back positive for the steroid methyltestosterone. If that is confirmed by the ‘B’’ test, it means U.S. heptathlete Hyleas Fountain’s medal will turn from bronze to silver, and Russia’s Tatiana Chernova gets the bronze.

That undoubtedly will further infuriate British heptathlete Kelly Sotherton, who finished fifth.

This is what Sotherton told the BBC last August, after Blonska, banned from 2003 through 2005 for doping, won a silver medal to Sotherton’s bronze at the 2007 world championships:

‘It’s hard to trust someone who has failed a test. When they come back and are still improving, it’s even harder.

‘You still have doubts, and 99% of us have doubts about certain athletes -- and unfortunately she’s one of them.

‘And in that time [she was banned] she had a baby, so she put her body through that and then comes back and performs out of her skin. I don’t know how that’s possible.

‘When you compete against people who have failed drugs tests, and then they carry on improving when they’re supposed to be clean -- how can that be possible?

‘I hope she’s clean, I really do because it would please me and everyone else. We’ll find out, we keep battling on, but unfortunately you’re always going to get the cheats.’

-- Philip Hersh