Bulgarian television reported that a B sample for Danekova, who came 14th in the steeplechase in the World Championships in Moscow in 2013, was also positive for EPO.
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Bulgaria’s Silvia Danekova has become the first athlete at Rio 2016 to test positive for a banned substance in an in-competition doping test.
Bulgarian steeplechaser Silvia Danekova and Chinese swimmer Chen Xinyi have tested positive for banned substances at the Rio Olympics.
The sample taken a few days after the 33-year-old arrived in Rio has tested positive for traces of banned blood booster EPO. It’s an incredibly big shock.
The development comes before the 3000 m steeplechase race, as the athletics program begins on Friday. I can not tell you how humiliated I feel. “But we’re coming from the East [eastern Europe], we’re too close to Russian Federation”.
Bulgaria’s sports ministry said it condemned the taking of banned substances.
Bulgarian athletics has been marred by a series of doping offences recently.
Sprinters Tezdzhan Naimova and Inna Eftimova, middle-distance runners Daniela Yordanova, Vania Stambolova and Teodora Kolarova, high-jumper Venelina Veneva and hammer-thrower Andrian Andreev have all tested positive in the last decade.
The Bulgarian weightlifting team earlier was completely banned from participating at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games due to repeated doping cases.
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“We’ve been living 20 days here and I have not bathed in warm water”, she said.
