Sprinter Troy Douglas has plunged athletics into another drugs controversy just hours before then seventh World Championships get underway in Seville.
Douglas last night became the latest leading name to be caught out by the increasingly controversial anabolic steroid nandrolone.
The Bermuda-born athlete has been thrown out of the Dutch team he now runs for following his adverse test. The 36-year-old's departure comes amid rumours that two more athletes have also provided positive test results which could be revealed in the next few days.
Douglas, booted out of last year's European Championships for using abusive language at officials when his appeal for a 200 metres bronze medal was thrown out, joins a growing list of absentees.
Jamaica's sprint queen Merlene Ottey withdrew this week after her positive test for nandrolone at a low-key meeting in Switzerland last month.
Britain's former Olympic champion Linford Christie and European 200 metres gold medallist Doug Walker, whose case has been referred to arbitration after he was cleared by UK Athletics, have also tested positive for the drug.
But the spate of positives has led some of the world's top athletes to question their confidence in the drug and its testing procedure, believing it might be flawed.
Maurice Greene, the reigning world 100 metres champion, believes the latest spate of positives should bring about the introduction of blood testing for next year's Olympics in Sydney.
