Reigning Olympic 400m hurdles champion Fani Halkia of Greece will not be defending her title as she has failed a drugs test conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency while she was preparing for the Games in Japan.
The athlete revealed she had tested positive for the banned substance methyltrienolone but said she did not know how it had got into her sample. Halkia was a surprise winner in the 400m hurdles at the 2004 Olympics.
Methyltrienolone is a highly potent, reasonably toxic anabolic steroid which would be used for short periods prior to bodybuilding. Similar to Trenbelone, but taken orally instead of via injection, it burns fat and builds muscle. It is apparently not available commercially.