Bulgarian runner Yordanova banned for two years

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian middle-distance runner Daniela Yordanova has been banned for two years for doping, the Bulgarian athletics federation said on Thursday.

The 32-year-old Yordanova tested positive for testosterone or its precursors from an out-of-competition sample given on June 13 in Sofia.

"I'm really sorry that it's happening with Yordanova but I hope that she will be morally and physically strong enough to return to the track after the end of her ban," the Balkan country's federation president Dobri Karamarinov told reporters.

Yordanova, who finished fifth in the 1,500 metres at the 2004 Athens Olympics and fifth at the European indoor championship in Valencia in March, was barred from competing at the Beijing Olympics where she was expected to contend for a medal.

Her coach Dimitar Vasilev took responsibility for the drug test failure saying it was caused by contaminated food supplements.

Bulgarian athletics has been marred by several doping offences in the last two years with middle distance runners Vanya Stambolova and Teodora Kolarova, high jumper Venelina Veneva and hammer thrower Andrian Andreev all testing positive.