British javelin thrower Joanna Blair has been banned for four years after testing positive for anabolic steroids.
Blair, who won the British title in 2016, said she had unintentionally ingested them from a contaminated supplement bought online.
The 31-year-old has been banned until July 2021 by UK Anti-Doping (Ukad).
“This case demonstrates that there are serious consequences to an anti-doping rule violation,” Ukad chief executive Nicole Sapstead said.
“Beyond the performance-enhancing qualities of steroids, there are significant health risks associated with their use, including kidney failure, liver damage and an increased risk of strokes and heart attacks.”
Blair was given an out of competition test while representing Great Britain at the European Athletics Team Championships in France in June 2017.
She was tested on 24 June last year and handed a provisional suspension by Ukad the following month.
She said she had ingested metandienone – a banned substance – through contaminated creatine which she had bought from a website.
She said she believed it was free from prohibited substances.
Blair accepted she bore some fault, but argued she had not received any formal anti-doping education nor had access to a nutritionist or doctor as a non-elite athlete.
Ukad did not accept her explanation.
“It follows that on the evidence before us we are bound to conclude that the respondent has not discharged her burden to establish the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional,” an anti-doping independent tribunal said in its report.
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