Athletics: Canadian competed after failing test

Canadian sprinter Venolyn Clarke, who finished eighth in her World Championships 100 metres quarter-final on Sunday, competed while still unaware she had failed a drugs test.

Yesterday Athletics Canada was informed by the Centre for Ethics in Sport that Clarke, in an out-of-competition test carried out in Calgary on July 31, had provided a positive sample for stanozol metabolite.

Stanazol is the same substance the infamous Ben Johnson was found guilty of using after his 1988 Olympic Games victory in Seoul.

Ten days earlier Clarke finished second in the Francophone Games in Ottawa, where she also won a silver medal in her country’s 4x100m team.

Clarke, a 34-year-old teacher from Oshawa, Ontario, won her first national title this year. In 1998 she failed to finish her 400m at the Commonwealth Games.