SOFIA, Oct 25: Bulgarian middle-distance runner Teodora Kolarova was given a two-year ban by the country’s athletics federation on Thursday after testing positive for anabolic steroids, the state BTA news agency reported.

“I am sorry for Kolarova, but all doping experts agreed that her use of banned substances is beyond doubt. The Bulgarian Athletics Federation had to impose the sanction,” the BTA cited federation chairman Dobromir Karamarinov as saying.

The 23-year-old Kolarova who came sixth in the 800m in the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, tested positive for excessive levels of testosterone and its precursors during an out-of-competition test on June 26. She has been suspended by the IAAF, since August.

Kolarova is the third Bulgarian athlete trained by the same coach, Georgy Dimitrov, who have failed doping tests for testosterone within the past months.

In July, European women’s 400m champion Vanya Stambolova, 23, and high jump silver medallist Venelina Veneva, 33, were also provisionally suspended by the IAAF. —AFP