The Olympic Games in Sochi were hit by a third doping case today after a Ukrainian skier failed a drugs test, as German prosecutors searched the home of a double Olympic gold medal-winning biathlete.
The Ukrainian Olympic Committee said Saturday that cross country skier Marina Lisogor had tested positive, coming after German biathlete Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle and Italian bobsledder William Frullani also failed tests.
Sachenbacher-Stehle was expelled from the Winter Olympics on Friday after testing positive for a banned stimulant during the Games, sending shock waves through German sport.
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The Ukrainian Olympic Committee said Lisogor, 30, told a disciplinary hearing that she had unwittingly consumed the banned substance in a medicine.
"The decision about the future fate of the athlete will be taken in line with IOC rules," the Ukraine Olympic Committee said.
It said it had been informed by the International Olympic Committee that the banned substance was trimetazidine, which was included on the banned list from January 1, 2014 and improves glucose utilisation.
Sachenbacher-Stehle, 33, said she consumed the banned stimulant methylhexanamin accidentally in a dietary supplement, adding she was living through the "worst nightmare you can imagine".
Germany's chef-de-mission at the Games, Michael Vesper, said Munich prosecutors had conducted searches in Ruhpolding, the Bavarian base of the German biathlon team, and at the athlete's home.
"It is necessary to investigate the environment in which this happened," he said. "We will cooperate with the prosecutors and it is right that they are acting."
But he added: "For us it is incomprehensible why such an experienced athlete should expose herself to such dangers" by taking such supplements.
