Brazilian Olympic hopeful banned for doping

Vanda Gomes

Rio de Janeiro, Dec 18 (IANS)

Brazilian Olympic sprint hopeful Vanda Gomes has been banned from competing for two years for doping.

The 26-year-old was found to have traces of the prohibited hormone anastrozole in an out-of-competition test in September. She refused a request to provide a B sample.

Brazil's superior sports justice tribunal delivered the unanimous verdict during hearing in Sao Paulo, Brazil's athletics federation (CBAt) said in a statement Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

Gomes was a member of Brazil's gold medal-winning 4x100m relay team at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara in 2011.

Anastrozole, commonly prescribed to breast cancer sufferers, works by inhibiting the synthesis of estrogen.