The athletics World Championships turned into an embarrassment for hosts Canada today after one of their athletes became the first to fail a drugs test at the event.
Venolyn Clarke, a 100 metre-sprinter, tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol during the pre-championships camp in Calgary.
The drug is the same one that caused the downfall of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson after he had won the Olympic 100 metres final in Seoul in 1988.
Clarke had earlier won her national championships, but she failed to qualify from the heats yesterday.
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The 34-year-old from Oshawa, Ontario, had made remarkable progress recently but had attributed that to a new programme that featured Eastern philosophy and Western medication.
PA