Euro Indoor Champ Naimova to Face Life Ban

Tezdzhan Naimova, who won the gold in 60m at the European Indoor Chmapionships in March, could face a life ban after a second doping offence in four years, the Bulgarian Athletic federation said on Tuesday June 12.

The 26-year-old Naimova tested positive for the banned steroid called drostanolone at the European indoor championship in Gothenburg in March.

"The Bulgarian Athletics Federation has a clear and firm policy against doping, which we followed for years," Karamarinov the head of Bulgarian Athletic federation told reporters. "I"m sorry for what happened to Tezdzhan and I hope she'll provide a rational explanation."

Naimova will have two weeks to respond to what happened, and If found guilty, Naimova will be forced to return her gold medal from Gothenburg where Ukraine's Mariya Ryemyen came second, France's Myriam Soumare was third and Bulgaria's Ivet Lalova came fourth.

In 2009, Naimova was banned for two years for manipulating a doping sample. She was ruled to have tampered with her urine sample at an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) out-of-competition test in Sofia.